BR  121  .W5353  1905 

Wishart,  Alfred  Wesley,  1865 

-1933. 
Primary  facts  in  religious 

thought 

V\f   [  u  [    p 


PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS 
THOUGHT 


PRIMARY  FACTS    IN 
RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 


SEVEN   ESSAYS   DEALING   IN   A   SIMPLE 

AND    PRACTICAL   MANNER   WITH 

THE  NATURE,  EXPRESSIONS, 

AND  RELATIONS  OF 

RELIGION 


NOV    1   1913 


ALFRED   WESLEY  WISHART 

FORMERLY  FELLOW  IN  CHURCH  HISTORY  IN 
THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 

AUTHOR   OF  "monks  AND  MONASTERIES" 


0 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

1905 


Copyright  1905 
By  The  University  of  Chicago 


PREFACE 

Religion  is  a  theme  of  perennial  interest. 
Everybody  thinks  and  talks  about  it.  The 
libraries  are  filled  with  books  dealing  with 
theological  creeds  and  systems,  ecclesiastical 
institutions,  religious  customs,  forms  of  wor- 
ship, and  sacred  books.  The  subject  engaged 
human  thought  in  the  infancy  of  the  race,  and 
it  still  maintains  its  place  as  the  greatest  of  all 
the  problems  that  perplex  the  mind  of  man. 

The  aim  of  these  short  essays  is  to  place 
within  the  reach  of  the  people  certain  facts  and 
principles  which,  it  is  believed,  are  absolutely 
essential  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  author's  rather  varied  experience 
convinces  him  that,  notwithstanding  the  multi- 
tude of  sermons,  periodicals,  and  books  upon 
religion,  many  people,  including  the  well-read, 
have  very  vague  and  unsatisfactory  opinions 
respecting  religion  and  its  relations  to  theology, 
morals,  the  church,  the  Bible,  and  Christ. 
Much  of  the  distress  of  mind  caused  by  the 
changes  in  theological  thought  would  be 
averted  if  certain  fundamental  facts  were  more 


VI  PREFACE 

generally  known  and  their  significance  under- 
stood. 

Since  the  value  of  a  book  for  general 
readers  is  increased  by  clear  statement  and 
candid  treatment,  the  author  has  tried  to  pre- 
sent the  message  stripped  of  evasive  terms  and 
perplexing  technicalities.  What  he  thinks,  he 
has  endeavored  to  state  with  unmistakable 
clearness. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  book  will  clarify  the 
views  and  strengthen  the  faith  of  those  who 
are  confused  and  troubled  by  modern  theo- 
logical thought  and  historical  criticism. 

Alfred  W.  Wishart. 

Trenton,  N.  J., 
September  8,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

FAGS 

Chapter       I.   What  is  Religion?      ,        .        .  i 

Chapter      II.   Religion  and  Theology        .        .  22 

Chapter    III.   Religion  and  Morals    ...  39 

Chapter    IV.   Religion  and  the  Church    .        .  51 

Chapter      V.   Religion  and  Social  Progress      .  71 

Chapter    VI.   Religion  and  Christ     ...  87 

Chapter  VII.   Religion  and  the  Bible       .        .  107 


vU 


CHAPTER   I 

WHAT  IS  RELIGION? 

There  are  unnumbered  mysteries  in  this 
world,  some  of  which  exist  in  things  them- 
selves, others  are  of  man's  creation.  Skilful 
philosophers  can  spin  metaphysical  cobwebs 
around  any  subject.  They  sometimes  invent 
problems  which  they  themselves  cannot  solve. 
Is  there  a  world  outside  ourselves  correspond- 
ing to  our  ideas?  Few  persons  can  furnish 
proof  of  such  a  world  that  will  be  satisfactory 
to  certain  philosophers.  Yet  we  conduct  our- 
selves as  if  the  world  were  real,  and  our  as- 
sumption does  not  fail  us.  We  build  houses  of 
brick  and  mortar  without  knowing  what  mat- 
ter is,  or  even  if  there  is  such  a  thing;  and  we 
live  in  them,  rear  our  children,  and  find  com- 
fort and  happiness.  Are  we  free  agents  ?  That 
is  a  nice  question  in  philosophy  not  yet  satis- 
factorily solved,  and  it  may  never  be.  Still  we 
act  as  if  we  were  free.  We  appeal  to  others 
to  do  thiSj  or  not  to  do  that,  just  as  if  they 
really  could  do  one  thing  or  the  other  as  they 
please.  When  we  do  wrong,  we  blame  our- 
I 


2       PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

selves,  assuming  that  we  could  have  done  right, 
if  we  had  wished  to  do  it. 

Our  senses  are  not  infallible,  but,  in  the 
main,  we  trust  them.  Our  convictions  may  be 
all  false,  but  we  act  upon  them.  We  ma}/  be 
all  soul  or  all  body,  yet  we  talk  and  plan  as  if 
we  had  a  material  body  and  something  not 
body,  which  we  call  the  soul. 

Where  these  ideas,  convictions,  assump- 
tions, whateyer  we  choose  to  call  them,  came 
from  is  a  much-disputed  question,  troublesome 
only  to  a  very  few.  The  mass  of  men  simply 
accept  the  fact  that  we  have  them.  The  mys- 
teries involved  in  every  thought,  emotion,  or 
act  of  will  do  not  stop  the  wheels  of  industry 
or  throw  the  world  of  human  life  into  confu- 
sion. For  thousands  of  years  mankind  has 
assumed  very  many  things  to  be  real  and  true, 
and  during  these  ages  great  progress  has  been 
made;  yet  the  question,  "What  is  reality?" 
is  as  hotly  debated  as  it  ever  was.  We  are  no 
nearer  the  final  solution  of  many  mysteries 
than  were  those  who  first  faced  them  in  awe 
and  wonder. 

Listen  to  John  Fiske,  one  of  the  choice 
intellectual  products  of  centuries  of  human 
development : 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  3 

When  from  the  dawn  of  life  we  see  all  things 
working  together  toward  the  evolution  of  the  highest 
spiritual  attributes  of  man,  we  know,  however  the  words 
may  stumble  in  which  we  try  to  say  it,  that  God  is  in  the 
deepest  sense  a  moral  Being.  The  everlasting  source 
of  phenomena  is  none  other  than  the  infinite  Power  that 
makes  for  righteousness.  Thou  canst  not  by  searching 
find  him  out ;  yet  put  thy  trust  in  him,  and  against  thee 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail ;  for  there  is  neither 
wisdom  nor  understanding  nor  counsel  against  the 
Eternal. 

Mr,  Fiske  informs  us  that  this  conclusion 
is  the  fruit  of  a  wide  induction  from  the  most 
vitally  important  facts  which  the  doctrine  of 
evolution  has  set  forth.  But  was  his  faith  in 
God,  so  derived,  any  stronger  than  that  of 
Jesus  Christ,  who  never  heard  of  evolution? 
What  is  still  more  important,  are  scientific 
arguments  for  the  existence  of  God  any  more 
convincing  for  the  millions  than  Christ's  asser- 
tion, without  proof,  that  God  is  our  Father  in 
heaven  ? 

Let  us  be  clearly  understood.  No  discredit 
to  science,  which  has  been  of  great  service  to 
religion,  is  intended.  The  progress  of  knowl- 
edge has  thrown  light  on  the  idea  of  God  and 
other  problems  of  religion.  But,  after  all,  may 
it  not   be  true  that  mankind^    including   Mr. 


4      PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

FiskCj  believes  in  God,  puts  its  trust  in  him, 
not  because,  by  searching,  it  can  find  him  out, 
but  because  man  cannot  help  believing  in  God  ? 
Man  is,  as  Sabatier  declares,  "  incurably  reli- 
gious." Research  and  meditation  may  clarify 
and  broaden  the  idea  of  God,  but  the  fact  is 
that  man  believes  in  some  sort  of  a  Higher 
Power  as  naturally  and  inevitably  as  he  accepts 
the  evidence  of  his  senses  and  believes  in  a 
world  outside  himself.  "  Call  him,  then,"  says 
Seneca,  "as  thou  pleasest,  either  Nature,  or 
Fate,  or  Fortune,  it  makes  no  matter,  because 
they  are  all  names  of  the  selfsame  God,  who 
diversely  useth  his  divine  providence." 

When  one  demands  evidence  for  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  he  will  find  no  more  rest  for  his 
perplexed  soul  in  the  arguments  of  philosophers 
and  scientists  than  in  the  fact,  uncontroverted 
and  indisputable,  that  man  has  always  believed 
in  him. 

We  shall  therefore  assume,  without  discus- 
sion, that  God  is,  and  that  he  manifests  him- 
self to  man,  immediately  in  man's  soul,  and 
indirectly  through  nature  and  history.  Reli- 
gion which  has  its  origin  in  this  ultimate  fact, 
is  universal.  Its  varieties  are  innumerable, 
being  scarcely  the  same  in  any  two  persons.    It 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  5 

has  marvelonsly  changed  in  the  course  of  time. 
Yet  in  its  essential  character,  and  as  an  actual, 
real  phase  of  human  experience,  one  might  as 
well  justify  the  ocean  or  the  stars  as  justify 
religion.  It  needs  no  justification.  It  has  al- 
ways been  and  now  is  a  vast,  complex,  inde- 
structible fact.  The  underlying  nature  of  this 
universal  experience,  however,  and  its  manifold 
expressions  or  forms,  may  profitably  be  studied. 
The  ideas,  feelings,  and  conduct  involved  in 
religion  may  be  investigated,  and  one  set  of 
experiences  may  be  compared  with  another,  for 
the  purpose  of  facilitating  religious  progress 
and  getting  closer  to  reality  and  truth.  That  is 
the  task  to  which  we  now  address  ourselves. 

What  is  religion  ?  A  friend  once  remarked 
that  a  definition  more  often  defines  the  definer 
than  it  does  the  thing  defined.  That  is  true. 
To  define  is  to  determine  the  limits  of  a  thing, 
to  fix  the  boundaries  which  distinguish  it  from 
other  things.  The  definition  is  therefore  the 
definer's  conception  of  a  thing,  and  the  defini- 
tion will  bear  the  earmarks  of  his  limitations 
and  particular  point  of  view.  When  the  object 
defined  is  complex,  intricate,  vague,  and  vast, 
points  of  view  will  be  numerous  and  definitions 
will  vary.     So  a  definition  of  religion  often 


6      PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

excludes  more  than  it  includes.  A  fence  al- 
ways shuts  out  more  than  it  shuts  in.  Each 
philosopher  and  theologian  has  his  own  defini- 
tion, and  he  no  sooner  lays  it  down  than  he 
takes  it  up  again  to  expand  it  to  include  many 
things  he  has  left  out.  But  this  inability  of  the 
learned  to  agree  on  a  subject  of  such  vital  con- 
cern to  all  mankind  need  disturb  no  one.  It  is 
to  be  expected.    It  is  unavoidable. 

"  Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 
I   pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies  — 
Hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 
Little  flower  —  but  if  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is." 

If  one  cannot  understand  a  tiny  flower, 
need  one  marvel  at  the  diversity  of  opinion 
respecting  religion? 

In  order  to  convince  the  skeptic,  the 
preacher  argues  that  religion  is  universal  and 
natural.  Thus  he  seeks  to  justify  faith  in  God 
as  a  rational  experience.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  he  appeals  to  the  sinner  to  turn  from 
the  error  of  his  ways,  the  preacher  is  quite 
likely  to  divide  men  into  two  classes,  the  reli- 
gious and  the  irreligious.  This  inconsistency 
arises  because  the  word  "  religion  "  is  used  in 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION  ?  7 

two  senses;  the  subject  is  considered  from  two 
different  points  of  view.  In  the  first  instance, 
the  mind  dwells  upon  that  fundamental  and 
universal  element  in  human  experience  which 
characterizes  man  as  religious.  In  the  second, 
a  distinction  is  made,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, between  religion  and  religions.  A 
particular  type  of  religion  is  used  as  a  standard 
by  which  to  judge  men.  If  they  come  up  to 
that  standard,  they  are  called  religious.  If 
they  fall  short,  they  are  classed  as  irreligious. 
"  Man  as  man  is  a  religious  being,"  says 
William  N.  Clarke.  "Conceivably,  religion 
may  be  simply  a  reaching  forth  on  the  part  of 
man ;  for  by  an  inward  necessity  man  does 
reach  forth  to  the  realities  with  which  religion 
is  concerned,  whether  he  has  definite  knowledge 
of  God  or  not."  This  is  undoubtedly  the  fun- 
damental fact  about  religion.  Our  thinking  on 
this  subject  must  begin  with  the  fact  that  reli- 
gion, in  the  broad,  general  sense,  is  a  man's 
life  or  experience  viewed  in  its  relation  to  God 
—  to  the  God  who  dwells  in  all  things. 

"Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit? 
Or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? 
If  I  ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there! 
If  I  make  my  bed  in  Sheol,  behold,  thou  art  there! 


8       PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning 
And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea, 
Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 
And  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me." 

Right  here  a  real  difficulty  arises.  Some 
believe  there  is  no  God,  no  Spirit  binding  all 
things  into  one  complete  whole.  Instead  of 
God,  there  is  only  the  order  of  nature.  Man's 
duty,  it  is  said,  is  to  reverence  this  order,  to 
obey  nature's  laws;  but  whether  we  stand  in 
the  presence  of  an  infinite  and  eternal  God  or 
not,  cannot  be  determined.  All  we  can  do  is 
to  worship  and  to  obey  the  laws  of  nature. 
Others  substitute  humanity  for  God,  and  find 
in  enthusiasm  for  humanity,  and  in  love  and 
reverence  for  the  best  men,  an  equivalent  for 
the  worship  and  love  of  God.  Now,  since 
these  nature-worshipers  and  humanity-wor- 
shipers do  not  recognize  any  divine  life,  related 
to  nature  and  to  man,  can  they  be  called  reli- 
gious ?  Have  they  any  religion  ?  The  answer 
to  this  question  depends  entirely  upon  the  point 
of  view,  the  definition  of  "  religion  "  which  one 
adopts.  For  example,  if  we  understand  by 
"  religion,"  what  Martineau  declared  it  to  be, 
"belief  in  an  ever-living  God,  that  is,  a  divine 
Mind  and  Will  ruling  the  universe  and  holding 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  9 

moral  relations  with  mankind,"  then  the 
nature-worshiper  has  no  religion.  Martineau 
objects  to  "  watering  down "  the  meaning  of 
"  religion  "  so  as  to  include  those  who  are  not 
conscious  of  "the  abiding  presence  and  per- 
suasion of  the  Soul  of  Souls."  He  does  this  in 
the  interests  of  what  he  conceives  to  be  clear 
thinking  and  true  religion.  Nevertheless,  he 
sees  in  the  ideals  and  characters  of  these  lovers 
of  nature  and  servants  of  humanity,  in  their 
desire  to  harmonize  knowledge  and  religion, 
in  their  manly  struggle  to  reach  the  light  and 
the  truth,  an  "inspiration  akin  to  that  of 
genuine  piety."  Therefore,  as  if  his  heart 
revolted  at  shutting  the  doors  of  the  temple  of 
religion  in  the  face  of  such  valiant  and  sincere 
advocates  of  what  they  believe  to  be  truth, 
Martineau  says :  "  Their  functions  are  sacred, 
because  concerned  with  a  universe  already  con- 
secrated by  a  divine  presence,  gleaming  through 
all  its  order  and  loveliness."  So  he  opens  the 
doors  and  lets  them  in  —  with  a  distinct  under- 
standing, however :  "  You  may  come  in ;  but 
if  we  give  you  a  home  in  the  widened  category 
of  religion,  it  must  be  as  children  of  the  house, 
and  not  as  wielding  its  supreme  authority. 
You  men  of  science  and  true  artists  are  rightly 


lO    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

called  'ministering  priests  of  nature,'  but  this 
you  could  not  be,  *  unless  nature  were  a  temple 
filled  with  God.' " 

Religion,  then,  may  be  considered  as  im- 
possible without  a  conscious  fellowship  with 
God,  a  conscious  recognition  of  God  as  the 
Spirit  that  lies  back  of  all  nature  and  speaks  to 
us  through  nature.  In  that  case,  a  savage  who 
believes  that  the  things  he  sees  were  made  by 
a  spirit  or  spirits  he  does  not  see,  would  be 
relisfious;  while  the  scientist,  whatever  his 
knowledge  and  moral  character,  who  does  not 
believe  in  God,  would  not  have  any  religion. 

But  suppose  we  deal  with  what  we  have 
assumed  to  l^e  a  fact,  irrespective  of  the  knowl- 
edge or  consciousness  of  that  fact.  Suppose 
man  is  related  to  God,  whether  he  knows  and 
feels  it  or  not ;  that  the  laws  of  the  moral  and 
physical  world  are  God's  laws ;  that  every  fact 
of  nature  tells  us  something  about  God,  and 
that,  when  we  deal  with  these  laws  of  nature 
and  obey  them,  we  deal  with  and  obey  God; 
that  all  moral  ideals  proceed  from  God,  so  we 
cannot  try  to  realize  any  moral  ideal  without 
trying  in  some  degree  to  do  what  God  wants 
us  to  do,  whether  we  know  it  to  be  God's  will 
or  not.     Then  a  man's  religion  is  his  attitude 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  II 

toward  all  things  —  toward  God,  nature,  hu- 
manity. What  he  thinks,  feels,  and  wills  is  his 
religion,  because,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  in  view  of  the  supposition  taken,  a  man 
cannot  think,  feel,  and  act  without  displaying 
his  attitude  toward  God.  The  failure  to  grasp 
the  real  significance  of  his  life,  to  see  himself 
as  related  to  a  Divine  Being,  does  not  alter  the 
fact  that  he  is  related  to  this  Divine  Being,  any 
more  than  ignorance  or  unconsciousness  of  the 
action  of  foods  in  the  stomach  proves  that  no 
chemical  action  takes  place. 

So  when  we  think  of  religion  as  universal, 
as  instinctive,  as  the  experience  of  man  in  rela- 
tion to  a  divine  life,  we  do  not  inquire  whether 
the  individual  thinks  and  feels  and  acts  accord- 
ing to  some  fixed  standard ;  not  what  he  ought 
to  be  and  to  do,  but  what  is  his  actual  attitude 
toward  the  universe.  Whatever  that  is,  that  is 
his  religion. 

This  is  viewing  religion  as  the  actual,  con- 
crete experience  of  the  individual  soul,  assum- 
ing all  the  while  that  this  soul  is,  whether  it 
knows  the  fact  or  not,  dependent  upon  an  infin- 
ite God  holding  relations  with  that  soul  —  rela- 
tions from  which  he  cannot  escape,  even  if  he 
would. 


12    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

But  there  is  another  and  very  important 
way  to  consider  this  subject.  The  moment  we 
set  up  a  standard  by  which  to  judge  the  quan- 
tity or  quahty  of  a  man's  religion,  we  are 
forced  to  make  a  distinction  between  rehgion 
and  rehgions.  When  we  speak  of  conscious 
and  unconscious  religion,  or  revealed  and 
natural  religion,  or  the  religion  of  love,  the 
religion  of  creeds,  the  religion  of  conduct,  or 
the  Christian  religion,  the  Buddhist  or  Mo- 
hammedan religion,  we  at  once  adopt  a  test 
and  classify  each  individual  in  some  group  or 
type. 

Judging  by  some  fixed  criterion,  we  speak 
of  true  and  false  religion,  of  persecuting  reli- 
gion, of  ceremonial  or  creedal  religion,  of 
theoretical  and  practical  religion,  of  individual 
and  social  religion.  Clearly  all  these  are  par- 
ticular expressions  or  manifestations  of  the 
universal  religious  life.  We  may  take  any  one 
of  these  religions  and  identify  it  with  religion 
itself.  Then  everything  that  departs  from  this 
ideal  will  be  no-religion.  How  common  is  it 
for  people  to  say  of  some  persecuting  religion : 
"If  that  is  religion,  I  don't  want  any  of  it!" 
Here  there  is  evidently  in  mind  some  standard 
of  what  man  ought  to  be  before  he  is  worthy 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  1 3 

to  be  called  religious.  Yet  in  the  last  analysis 
the  deeds  of  the  persecutor  are  emphatically  an 
expression  of  his  religious  life.  They  indicate 
his  religious  attitude  toward  God  and  man.  So 
we  may  think  of  religion  as  synonymous  with 
goodness,  whatever  that  may  be.  All  who  are 
not  as  good  as  we  think  they  ought  to  be  we 
may  class  with  the  irreligious.  But  are  all  reli- 
gious people  good  ?  They  may  be  in  the  savage 
state.  They  may  love  that  which  is  bad  and  act 
wickedly.  Still  they  certainly  have  a  religious 
life.  Whatever  that  life  is,  we  repeat  then,  is 
their  religion.  But  if  they  must  attain  a  high 
stage  of  development  in  knowledge,  feeling,  and 
conduct  before  they  are  religious,  then  they  are 
not  religious.  If  the  standard  is  lofty,  there 
are  comparatively  few  who  are  religious.  The 
vast  majority  of  people  are,  then,  without  any 
religion  at  all. 

There  is,  lastly,  a  third  way  to  regard 
religion. 

We  may  think  of  religion,  not  as  the  actual 
and  total  experience  of  man,  and  not  as  that 
experience  judged  by  certain  standards;  but 
we  may  analyze  that  experience  and  find  in  it 
certain  elements  which  are  often  called  the 
essence  of  religion,  the  germs  from  which  the 


14    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

highest  forms  of  religion  grow ;   "  the  soul  of 
good  in  things  evil,"  as  it  were. 

In  every  creature,  simply  because  he  is 
made  in  the  image  of  God,  will  be  found  some- 
thing good,  even  though  it  be  the  faintest 
traces.  No  rational  creature,  however  de- 
praved, is  absolutely  destitute  of  every  germ  of 
goodness.  To  be  such  a  man  one  must  be  abso- 
lutely without  any  knowledge  of  God.  That 
means  that  he  does  not  know,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  a  single  truth  or  fact  in  God's  world.  He 
has  never  been  the  possessor  of  a  worthy  affec- 
tion—  never  loved  anything  good,  even  in  the 
faintest  degree.  He  has  never  performed  an 
act  that  had  even  the  element  of  right  in  it. 
Such  a  creature  is  really  unthinkable.  We  be- 
hold in  all  men,  however  degraded,  some  striv- 
ing to  realize  something  good,  some  ideal  that 
has  elements  of  nobility  in  it.  Blindly,  though 
it  may  be,  this  human  being  is  groping  after 
God.  The  Divine  is  struggling  with  a  human 
soul,  seeking  its  salvation.  The  voice  of  con- 
science, craving  for  immortality,  consciousness 
of  sin,  love  of  children,  desire  to  serve  a  friend, 
sympathy  with  the  unfortunate,  grief  over  the 
dead  —  these  are   some  of   the  germs  of  the 


WHAT   IS    RELIGION?  1 5 

religious  life,  the  elemental  manifestations  of 
the  Hfe  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man, 

"God  is  in  all  that  liberates  and  lifts, 
In   all   that   humbles,   sweetens,   and   consoles." 

The  individual  exhibits  these  traits  of 
goodness  and  truth  just  because  he  is  a  soul, 
made  in  the  image  of  God ;  because  God  dwells 
in  every  heart.  So  in  this  sense,  too,  religion 
is  "writ  deep"  in  human  nature.  It  is  con- 
stitutional. Man  cannot  escape  from  it.  He  is 
''incurably  religious." 

Now,  it  would  be  comparatively  easy  to 
understand  this  view  of  the  matter,  and  to  con- 
fess it  to  be  true,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
we  have  been  brought  up  to  think  of  some  type 
or  kind  of  religion  as  constituting  all  the  reli- 
gion there  is  in  this  world.  Then,  too,  we 
have  other  preconceived  ideas,  which  lead  us  at 
once  to  ask :  "  Will  everybody,  then,  be  saved  ? 
If  all  men  are  religious,  what  is  the  use  of  send- 
ing missionaries  to  the  heathen  ?  " 

The  destiny  of  man  after  death  is  easily 
distinguished  from  the  state  of  his  religious 
experience  in  this  world.  If  only  those  who 
are  going  to  heaven,  according  to  the  belief  of 
many  Christians,  are  religious,  then  vast  multi- 
tudes have  no  religion  at  all.     Religion  ceases 


1 6    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

to  be  universal,  and  becomes  the  achievement 
of  a  small  fragment  of  humanity.  Under  this 
view,  the  non-Christian  nations,  with  their 
sacred  books,  altars  and  temples  and  theologies, 
have  no  religion.  No  intelligent  person  would 
go  so  far  as  that,  because,  if  no  one  is  religious 
except  those  who  are  called  Christians,  it  might 
be  difficult  to  prove  that  the  Christian  religion 
is  any  more  entitled  to  be  called  a  religion  than 
any  other.  If  it  is  claimed  that  all  faiths  except 
Christianity  are  false,  it  would  be  quite  easy 
to  prove  that  to  be  false  also.  "  Salvation," 
then,  is  a  term  used  to  describe  the  state  of 
those  who  have  reached  a  certain  stage  in  reli- 
gious development  or  complied  with  certain 
requirements.  But  religion  itself  is  not  identi- 
cal with  "  my  "  religion,  or  with  certain  stand- 
ards of  faith  and  practice.  It  is  not  at  all 
necessary  to  assume  that,  because  every  man  is 
religious,  he  is  therefore  what  he  might  be  or 
ought  to  be.  He  may  be  a  very  undesirable 
member  of  society.  He  may  have  a  long  way 
to  travel  in  order  to  reach  certain  religious 
standards.  No  truth  of  Christianity,  no  true 
incentive  to  missionary  effort,  is  in  the  least 
degree  weakened  by  this  broad  conception  of 
universal  religion. 


WHAT   IS    RELIGION?  1/ 

When  Paul  addressed  the  Athenians  on 
Mars'  Hill,  he  took  substantially  this  view  of 
religion.  He  conceded  that  the  Athenians  were 
"somewhat  religious,"  even  though  they  had 
erected  an  altar  to  "the  Unknown  God."  Even 
their  agnosticism  was  their  religion.  "  But," 
said  he,  "  what  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignor- 
ance, this  I  set  forth  unto  you." 

It  is  in  this  universal  groping  after  God 
amid  the  clouds  of  mystery  that  enshroud  us, 
in  this  divine  life  struggling  for  recognition  in 
the  consciousness  of  man,  that  we  find  the  cre- 
ative force  which  has  produced  every  phase  of 
the  religious  life;  and  it  is  this  which  furnishes 
an  unanswerable  argument  for  the  permanence, 
indestructibility,  and  reasonableness  of  univer- 
sal religion. 

The  baby's  consciousness  of  the  world  into 
which  it  is  born  has  been  described  as  "one 
big,  blooming,  buzzing  confusion."  That  is 
what  the  religious  life  was  at  the  beginning  of 
man's  long  march  toward  the  Infinite ;  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  that  is  what  this  universe  is  to  all 
of  us  even  now.  We  see  through  a  glass, 
darkly.  Some  see  more  clearly  than  others. 
But  the  ground  of  our  hope  is  that  underneath 
are  the  everlasting  arms ;  that  the  soul  of  man 


l8    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

craves  harmony  with  its  environment,  peace 
and  rest  in  the  shadow  of  the  Eternal.  Were 
it  otherwise,  we  might  confidently  await  the 
end  of  all  religion.  But,  such  being  the  case, 
religion  cannot  perish.  It  may  change  and 
grow,  but  it  will  not,  cannot,  die. 

It  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  point  of  view 
taken,  and  to  render  the  conviction  of  its  cor- 
rectness more  certain  in  the  minds  of  the 
doubting,  to  consider  briefly  the  subject  of  art. 

Tolstoi  says  that,  in  spite  of  the  mountains 
of  books  written  on  art,  no  accurate  definition 
of  "  art  "  has  yet  been  reached.  The  reason  for 
this,  he  explains,  is  that  some  idea  or  standard 
of  beauty  constitutes  the  basis  of  all  definitions. 

Shall  we  say,  with  Mill,  that  art  is  the  em- 
ployment of  the  powers  of  nature  for  an  end? 
In  that  case  everybody  is  an  artist.  The  sav- 
age who  makes  a  flint  ax,  or  decorates  his  face 
with  paint,  or  constructs  a  rude  shelter,  em- 
ploys the  powers  of  nature  for  an  end.  Every- 
body does  that. 

Or  shall  we  confine  art  to  that  only  which 
reaches  a  given  standard  of  beauty  or  excel- 
lence? When  an  artist,  criticising  a  picture, 
says,  "That  is  not  art,"  what  does  he  mean? 
Plainly  this,  that  the  picture  does  not  conform 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION?  I9 

to  certain  artistic  standards  which  the  critic  has 
adopted.  What  some  call  art  he  denies  to  be 
art.  Is  everybody,  then,  an  artist?  Or  are 
those  artists  only  who  are  professionally 
skilled,  who  have  reached  a  certain  stage  of 
development  in  knowledge,  taste,  and  skill? 

But  there  is  still  another  standard.  Wil- 
liam Morris  says :  "  That  which  I  understand 
by  real  art  is  the  expression  by  man  of  his 
pleasure  in  labor."  Is  joy  in  one's  work  the 
test,  so  that  all  who  have  no  joy  in  their  work 
are  not  artists  ?  Is  the  product  itself  not  to  be 
considered?  If  the  worker  experienced  joy  in 
his  work,  is  the  result  of  his  labor  to  be  called 
an  artistic  product,  no  matter  what  its  aesthetic 
character  may  be? 

Here  then,  as  in  the  case  of  religion,  it  is 
plainly  to  be  seen  that  everything  depends  on 
the  point  of  view.  If  conformity  to  certain 
standards  be  art,  then  some  are  artists  and 
some  are  not.  But  if  man's  inborn  craving  to 
express  himself,  and  the  germs  of  the  taste  for 
the  beautiful,  be  considered  as  the  essential 
element  in  art,  then  everybody  is  an  artist,  the 
difference  between  the  untrained  and  the  pro- 
fessional being  merely  one  of  degree. 

Art  may  be  regarded  as  subjective,  as  a 


20    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

phase  of  human  experience.  It  may  be  con- 
sidered as  objective,  consisting  of  the  products 
of  that  experience. 

To  conckide,  then  :  "  Rehgion  "  may  be 
taken  to  mean  man's  actual  inner  Hfe,  viewed 
in  its  relationship  to  God,  in  which  experience, 
thoughts,  feelings,  and  will  are  indissolubly 
united. 

Or  the  term  may  be  confined  to  the  body  of 
doctrines  or  mythologies,  sacred  books,  institu- 
tions, ceremonies,  conduct,  and  other  visible 
manifestations  or  expressions  of  the  inner  reli- 
gious experience. 

These  two  uses  of  the  word  "religion," 
however,  really  apply  to  one  and  the  same 
thing;  for  the  visible  is  but  the  outcome  of  the 
invisible,  two  parts  of  one  experience,  just  as 
the  personality  is  expressed  in  the  deed.  We 
can  get  at  the  deed  through  the  personality,  or- 
at  the  personality  through  the  deed.  Each 
helps  to  tell  us  what  the  other  is.  The  doc- 
trines, sacred  books,  rituals,  and  creeds  assist 
us  in  determining  the  inner  side  of  the  religious 
experience,  and  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  will 
determine  what  the  external  religion  will  be. 

A  third  use  of  the  word  "  religion  "  appears 
when  we  adopt  a  standard.     If  one  must  have 


WHAT    IS    RELIGION  f  21 

certain  ideas  about  God,  or  certain  feelings  of 
dependence  upon  him^  or  if  he  must  have 
reached  a  definite  stage  of  goodness,  then  reli- 
gion ceases  to  be  a  man's  actual  attitude  toward 
God,  whatever  that  attitude  may  be,  and  no 
matter  what  the  degree  of  his  consciousness  of 
God  may  be.  According  to  this  view,  only 
those  are  religious  who  reach  the  standard; 
the  others  have  no  religion. 


CHAPTER   II 

RELIGION  AND  THEOLOGY 

The  failure  to  understand  the  relations  be- 
tween theology  and  religion  is  a  fruitful  source 
of  unhappiness.  Many  persons  are  not  taught 
to  see  any  difference  between  theology  and  reli- 
gion, and  consequently,  when  they  lose  faith 
in  one  or  more  doctrines  about  religion,  they 
often  feel  that  they  have  lost  their  religion. 
Others  are  afraid  of  being  classed  with  the 
irreligious  or  skeptical,  and  employ  all  sorts  of 
ingenious  devices  to  satisfy  conscience  and  at 
the  same  time  avoid  an  open  rupture  with  their 
family  or  friends.  They  try  to  make  them- 
selves believe  that  the  words  they  formerly 
understood  to  mean  one  thing  can  stand  just 
as  well  for  a  very  different  thing.  Some  drift 
insensibly  into  the  habit  of  pretending  to  be- 
lieve what  they  really  do  not  believe.  Others 
become  indifferent  to  doctrines  of  religion,  and 
imagine  that  it  makes  no  difference  what  one 
believes,  if  one  is  only  sincere.  In  one  way  or 
another  a  rather  cold  and  formal  allegiance  to 
the  church  and  a  lifeless  sort  of  religion  result 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  23 

from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  true  value  and 
function  of  theology.  It  is,  therefore,  a  sad 
fact,  well  known  to  students  of  history,  that 
crises  in  theology  have  always  been  accom- 
panied by  irreverence  and  religious  indifference 
in  the  experience  of  many  persons  driven  into 
confusion  and  despair  by  theological  changes. 
Brought  up  to  believe  that  religion  and  certain 
doctrines  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  when 
they  cease  to  believe  these  doctrines  or  become 
skeptical  respecting  them,  they  cannot  escape 
the  conviction  that  they  have  lost  their  religion. 
It  is,  then,  highly  important  to  consider  care- 
fully the  nature  and  function  of  theology.  This 
does  not  require  us  to  pass  judgment  upon 
conflicting  systems  of  theology.  Our  inquiry 
is  not,  "Which  is  the  true  theology?"  but, 
"  What  is  theology  itself?  " 

Everything  entering  into  the  experience  of 
man  may  be  explored,  investigated,  studied. 
When  we  study  crystals,  plants,  animals,  we 
really  observe,  compare,  recall,  and  analyze  our 
impressions  and  perceptions  of  these  objects. 
Science  is,  strictly  speaking,  knowledge  of 
reality  as  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  experi- 
ence of  man.  Everybody,  even  an  untutored 
barbarian,    has    some    knowledge    of    reality, 


24    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

although  we  do  not  speak  of  this  vague,  un- 
certain knowledge  of  things  as  science.  So  the 
meaning  of  the  word  is  restricted  to  a  devel- 
oped form  of  primitive  ideas.  Sometimes 
science  is  described  as  "organized  or  system- 
atized knowledge,"  or  "  the  highest  stage  of 
growing  knowledge."  No  clear  line  has  been 
drawn  between  the  indefinite  knowledge  of  the 
uneducated  and  the  more  adequate  knowledge 
of  those  who  call  themselves  scientists.  Some 
say  that  science  does  not  exist  until  the  idea 
arises  of  law  binding  facts  together.  "  Science, 
therefore,  consists  not  in  the  accumulation  of 
heterogeneous  facts,  any  more  than  the  random 
up-piling  of  stones  is  architecture." 

The  word  "science"  must  not  be  restricted 
to  the  study  of  physical  things,  because,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  when  we  study  physical  things, 
we  at  the  same  time  examine  these  things  as 
they  appear  to  the  soul.  It  is  just  as  legitimate 
to  study  the  idea  of  duty,  the  love  of  God,  the 
feeling  of  reverence,  the  soul's  craving  for 
righteousness,  as  it  is  to  study  our  impressions 
of  flowers,  birds,  or  stones.  Science  deals  with 
other  things  than  those  that  can  be  seen  and 
handled.  Science  deals  with  un.seen  realities 
as  well  as  with  the  things  that  do  appear.    The 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  25 

so-called  scientific  laws  are  not  laws  that  can 
be  seen. 

Since  some  things  are  more  involved, 
the  sciences  differ  in  the  range  of  ascertained 
and  established  truths.  It  is  easier  for  scien- 
tists to  agree  in  some  fields  than  in  others.  For 
example,  botany,  or  the  science  of  plants,  is 
more  exact  than  psychology,  or  the  science  of 
the  human  soul.  But  this  does  not  prove  that 
cabbages  are  more  real  than  souls. 

Now,  religion,  as  human  experience,  is 
made  up  of  ideas  about  God,  nature,  and  man, 
involving  feelings  of  love,  reverence,  duty,  all 
of  which  exert  a  profound  influence  upon  man's 
character  and  conduct.  Theology  is  the  science 
of  this  whole  religious  experience.  Religion  is 
the  fact,  the  object,  the  reality,  whatever  you 
wish  to  call  it;  and  theology  is  the  organized 
body  of  knowledge  concerning  this  reality. 

There  are  those  who  refuse  to  call  theology 
a  science,  because  the  Infinite  and  the  Unknown 
enter  so  largely  into  the  experience  which  is 
studied.  It  is  assumed  that  exact  knowledge 
is  possible  when  dealing  with  the  facts  of  na- 
ture, but  nothing  more  than  theory  "is  possible 
when  dealing  with  fundamental  and  ultimate 
reality,  the  all-pervading  mystery  of  the  uni- 


26    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

verse.  So  all  theologies,  it  is  said,  must  ever 
be  imperfect  systems  of  thought,  defective  in- 
terpretations of  the  relations  existing  between 
man  and  God. 

But,  rightly  viewed,  is  not  the  difference 
between  theological  knowledge  and  all  other 
scientific  knowledge  merely  one  of  degrees? 
All  knowledge,  of  every  sort,  is  partial.  What 
science  or  philosophy  goes  to  the  roots  of  things 
and  tells  us  the  whole  truth  about  life  and 
force  and  ultimate  reality?  What  science  is 
without  its  theories,  assumptions,  hypotheses, 
guesses?  What  science  does  not  encounter 
obstacles  and  barriers  to  its  investigations? 
What  scientific  classification  satisfies  all  minds  ? 

True,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  reach  satisfactory 
conclusions  in  theology  as  it  is  in  the  physical 
sciences ;  but  it  is  very  far  from  true  that  the 
difference  between  theology  and  physical  sci- 
ence is  that  the  former  gives  us  guesses  and 
theories,  while  the  latter  gives  us  facts  and 
exact  knowledge.  The  mystery,  perplexity, 
and  uncertainty  are  not  all  on  one  side. 

The  first  and  most  important  thing  to  re- 
member, then,  is  that  there  is  clearly  a  differ- 
ence between  religion,  which  is  the  experience 
of  man  in  all  his  relations  with  the  Infinite,  and 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  2/ 

theology,  which  deals  with  these  varied  and 
complex  facts,  whatever  they  are.  A  similar 
line  is  drawn  between  plant  life  and  botany, 
the  starry  heavens  and  astronomy,  animal  life 
and  zoology,  the  earth  and  geology.  We  know 
that  in  all  these  sciences  what  is  declared  to  be 
true  about  things  may  be  true  or  may  be  false, 
and  all  that  is  true  is  only  true  so  far  as  it  goes ; 
it  is  not  the  whole  truth. 

All  these  sciences  have  a  history.  When 
Socrates  sees  how  absurd  are  the  answers  to 
his  questions,  he  exclaims  :  "  How  disappoint- 
ing !  How  vexatious !  We  are  where  we  were ! 
We  must  begin  again.  We  have  not  yet  found 
what  we  are  seeking.  We  have  not  yet  got 
hold  of  the  real  and  essential  truth."  To  get 
hold  of  real  truth,  to  know  ourselves  and  the 
outward  world  —  this  has  ever  been  the  eager 
desire  of  mankind.  But  how  slowly  and 
wearily  has  mankind  reached  its  present  im- 
perfect conception  of  things !  What  crudities, 
superstitions,  and  absurdities  once  passed  for 
knowledge !  How  frequently  have  the  theories 
of  men  been  revolutionized  by  new  discoveries ! 
And,  even  in  our  time  of  boasted  enlighten- 
ment, how  quickly  do  scientific  treatises  be- 
come obsolete  and  useless !     Books  on  the  con- 


28    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

flict  between  science  and  theology  do  more 
than  show  the  hostiHty  of  some  theologians  to 
scientific  investigations  and  conclusions.  They 
also  disclose  the  fact  that  the  history  of  every 
science  is  a  record  of  human  ignorance  and 
superstition  —  reverence  for  conclusions  utterly 
without  foundation.  So  it  is  true,  not  only  of 
theology,  but  of  all  the  sciences : 

"  Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 
They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be, 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee, 
And  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

But  it  will  be  said  that  science  has  made 
great  progress  in  recent  years.  True,  indeed, 
and  so  has  theology.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
momentous  revolution  of  thought  respecting 
the  religious  experience.  Systems  of  theology 
are  undergoing  thorough  and  radical  recon- 
struction. Whether  theological  knowledge  has 
kept  pace  with  other  knowledge  is  a  matter  of 
some  consequence,  but  the  really  vital  question 
is  whether  theology  is  advancing  at  all.  It 
must  be  evident  to  every  well-informed  student 
of  theology  that  there  is  slowly  emerging  out 
of  the  chaos  a  number  of  epoch-making  doc- 
trines. We  are  now,  and  shall  always  be,  far 
from   absolute   truth.      But    some    things   are 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  29 

becoming  clearer.  The  vital  elements  of  reli- 
gion are  more  definitely  perceived,  and  the 
fundamentals  are  being  emphasized  now  as 
never  before. 

There  are  several  important  divisions  in 
theology  which  it  is  well  to  describe  very 
briefly.  The  foundation  of  theology  in  gen- 
eral, the  subject-matter  of  the  science,  is  God 
in  his  various  manifestations  or  relations. 

When  attention  is  fixed  upon  God  in  rela- 
tion to  nature,  we  have  what  has  been  called 
"  physical  theology."  Here  the  object  is  to 
deal  with  God  as  the  First  Cause  of  all  things, 
and  to  study  the  visible  world  for  the  light  it 
may  throw  on  the  nature  and  purposes  of  God. 
Martineau  says :  "  If  you  wish  to  remain  an 
agnostic  or  an  atheist,  you  must  never  look 
beyond  appearances  or  inquire  as  to  causes.  If 
you  do,  you  cannot  stop  short  of  God." 

When  we  study  God  in  his  relation  to  the 
essential  nature  of  man,  we  have  "metaphysi- 
cal theology."  Here  the  effort  is  to  arrive  at 
some  knowledge  and  understanding  of  God  by 
a  study  of  the  personality  of  man. 

Then  there  are  other  classifications  based 
upon  the  different  religious  experiences  of  the 
race.    Each  particular  religion  has  its  theology. 


30    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

Christian  theology  deals  with  that  religious 
experience  which  has  its  center  in  Christ.  It 
studies  the  religion  described  in  the  Bible,  and 
the  religion  which  sprang  from  the  religion 
whose  record  is  in  the  Bible. 

We  may  divide  the  religious  experience  of 
Christians  into  various  elements,  and  fix  atten- 
tion, for  example,  upon  the  dogmas  of  the 
Christian  religion,  w-hich  constitute  "  dogmatic 
theology,"  "Historical  theology"  traces  the 
development  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
religion. 

If  we  think  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
as  a  revelation,  and  the  religious  life  associated 
with  these  doctrines  as  revealed  religion,  then 
theology  may  be  divided  into  "  revealed  the- 
ology "  and  "  natural  theology,"  which  latter 
deals  with  the  religious  life  outside  of  revealed 
religion. 

All  these  divisions  and  subdivisions  of  the- 
ology are  simply  parts  of  the  universal  think- 
ing of  men  about  a  universal  experience.  They 
are  made  for  practical  purposes,  in  order  to 
limit  a  vast  subject  within  such  bounds  that  it 
can  be  more  easily  handled.  Each  department 
or  branch  of  tht  general  subject  is  simply  a 
partial  view  of  the  whole. 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  3 1 

Passing  now  from  these  more  general  ob- 
servations, let  us  point  out  a  few  actualities  in 
the  religious  experience  with  which  theology 
deals,  which  are  as  truly  facts  as  any  physical 
reality  with  which  science  has  to  do. 

First,  the  belief  in  God.  Whether  there  is 
a  Divine  Being  or  not,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
man  has  cherished  the  belief  in  his  existence. 
The  origin  and  growth  of  the  idea  of  God  is  a 
matter  of  interesting  history  and  philosophy. 
The  varieties  of  this  belief  no  more  prove  the 
nonexistence  of  God  than  the  disagreements 
of  scientists  disprove  the  reality  of  the  outward 
world. 

Moreover,  the  influence  of  the  idea  of  God 
upon  human  character,  as  a  force  in  civiliza- 
tion, cannot  be  ignored.  It  is  difficult  to  de- 
scribe that  influence  and  to  distinguish  its 
operation  from  those  of  other  civilizing  forces ; 
but  the  fact  remains  that  the  belief  in  God 
exists,  and  that  it  has  profoundly  affected  man- 
kind. 

A  second  fact  or  element  of  the  religious 
experience  with  which  theology  is  concerned 
is  the  consciousness  of  sin.  Self-condemnation, 
attended  by  distress  of  mind  and  heart,  and 
discontent  with  one's  moral  condition,  are 
actual  experiences,  as  real  as  any  that  man  has 


3-'    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

Thirdly,  there  is  also  to  be  found  in  the 
experience  of  man  the  desire  for  righteousness, 
for  forgiveness  of  sins  and  peace  with  the 
Divine  Being.  This  longing  for  God  may  be 
described  in  language  that  applies  only  to  a 
developed  form  of  the  religious  experience,  but 
the  fact  is  that  there  is  a  universal  hunger  for 
spiritual  peace  which,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, is  always  at  work. 

We  may  go  a  step  farther  without  leaving 
the  solid  ground  of  reality.  While  there  is  the 
greatest  diversity  of  opinion  respecting  the 
nature  of  ultimate  goodness,  there  is  a  univer- 
sal recognition  of  good  and  bad.  Even  a  sav- 
age responds  to  kindness,  and  feels  that  there 
is  a  difference  between  a  brutal,  blood-thirsty 
villain  and  a  tender-hearted  missionary.  The 
loving  character  is,  to  say  the  least,  generally 
preferred  to  the  cruel  one.  There  is  a  common 
understanding  that  certain  types  of  character 
and  certain  kinds  of  deeds  are  worthy  of  ad- 
miration, while  others  merit  condemnation. 

In  these  four  facts  —  the  belief  in  God,  the 
consciousness  of  sin,  the  longing  for  forgive- 
ness, and  the  attachment  to  some  ideal  of  char- 
acter—  will  be  found  the  constituent  elements 
of  the  universal  religious  experience.     In  deal- 


RELIGION    AND  THEOLOGY  33 

ing  with  these  fundamental  reaHties,  theology 
does  not  beat  the  air  or  walk  with  uncertain 
tread.  Here,  truly,  there  is  something  to  be 
investigated  in  a  scientific  spirit,  and  about 
which  exact  knowledge,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, is  obtainable. 

Finally,  another  relationship  between  reli- 
gion and  theology  deserves  attention.  Is  reli- 
gion the  fruit  of  theology?  The  influence  of 
Christ's  teachings  upon  the  religious  life  will 
be  discussed  in  a  later  chapter;  so  the  effect 
of  theological  doctrines  on  religion  will  here 
be  viewed  in  its  broadest  aspect. 

Theology  did  not  create  religion,  any  more 
than  astronomy  created  the  stars.  So  theology 
is  subordinate  to  religion,  doctrine  to  life. 

Scientific  knowledge  has  some  bearing  on 
life,  and  tends  to  promote  the  well-being  of 
mankind.  Mistaken  views  of  nature  may  do 
great  harm.  For  example,  astrology  and  false 
medical  theories  had  a  serious  effect  upon 
morals  and  physical  life.  Ignorance  always 
injures  man. 

This  is  particularly  true  in  the  case  of  the- 
ology, because  this  science  is  more  vitally  and 
intimately  related  to  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
The  mind  is  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the 


34    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

religious  development  of  the  race.  What  a 
man  thinks  about  God  and  duty  has  much  to  do 
with  his  religious  life.  Our  ideas,  whether  we 
gained  them  by  instruction  or  by  personal  in- 
quiry and  meditation,  react  upon  the  whole 
life.  Consequently,  the  doctrines  of  any  sys- 
tem of  theology  exert  a  powerful  influence 
upon  individuals  and  upon  society.  It  is  there- 
fore folly  to  say  that  it  makes  no  difference 
what  we  believe  so  long  as  we  are  sincere. 

But  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  doc- 
trines in  their  relation  to  the  practical  life. 
Some  theological  doctrines  have  less  contact 
with  life  than  others;  that  is,  they  are  more 
speculative  and  purely  philosophical,  dealing 
with  subjects  out  of  the  common  reach,  more 
or  less  remote  from  the  capacity  of  the  average 
intellect.  So,  while  religion  is  affected  by  in- 
tellectual conceptions,  it  is  not  correct  to  say 
that  religion  is  entirely  dependent  upon  theo- 
logical knowledge,  because  the  religious  experi- 
ence is  made  up  of  what  we  love  and  what  we 
will  to  do,  as  well  as  of  what  we  think. 

Many  successful  farmers  know  little  of  the 
science  of  agriculture.  They  are  not  entirely 
ignorant  of  soils  and  seeds,  else  they  could  not 
be  successful ;   but  their  knowledge  is  not  of  a 


RELIGION    AND    THEOLOGY  35 

scientific  character.  One  might  know  all  about 
the  chemistry  of  foods  and  be  a  confirmed  dys- 
peptic, unable  to  experience  the  health  and 
pleasure  derived  from  food.  To  enjoy  a  beau- 
tiful landscape,  to  delight  in  mountains,  green 
fields,  brooks,  and  flowers,  it  is  not  at  all  indis- 
pensable to  study  geology  and  botany  scientifi- 
cally. One  might  be  expert  in  the  scientific 
knowledge  of  mountains  without  a  tithe  of  the 
joy  which  an  ignorant  mountaineer  experiences 
who  lives  among  and  loves  the  Alps. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  nature 
as  it  is  cut  into  pieces,  dried,  labeled,  and 
tucked  away  in  a  museum  of  natural  history, 
and  nature  as  it  glows  with  beauty  and  throbs 
with  life  out  of  doors. 

So,  without  ignoring  the  real  value  of  scien- 
tific study,  and  the  increased  interest,  pleasure, 
and  advantage  which  it  may  impart  to  life,  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  the  religious  life  may 
flourish  even  where  there  is  much  ignorance  of 
the  philosophy  of  the  religious  experience,  and 
little  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  religion. 
The  test  of  mother-love  is  not  knowledge  of  the 
psychology  of  love.  The  test  of  health  is  not 
knowledge  of  physiology.  The  test  of  virtue 
is  not  knowledge  of  ethics.     So  the  test  of  reli- 


36    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

gion  is  not  knowledge  of  theology.  One  may 
love  God  supremely,  devote  his  whole  life  to 
the  service  of  God,  and  exhibit  to  his  fellow- 
men  a  spirit  of  sympathy,  sociability,  kindness, 
and  purity  which  will  render  him  highly  es- 
teemed by  all  who  know  him ;  yet  his  intel- 
lectual capacity  may  be  of  an  inferior  order, 
and  his  knowledge  of  theology  may  be  very 
slight.  "  Our  young  people,"  says  Emerson, 
"  are  diseased  with  the  theological  problems  of 
original  sin,  origin  of  evil,  predestination,  and 
the  like.  These  never  presented  a  practical 
difficulty  to  any  man  —  never  darkened  across 
any  man's  road,  who  did  not  go  out  of  his  way 
to  seek  them.  These  are  the  soul's  mumps, 
and  measles,  and  whooping  cough." 

There  is,  in  other  words,  a  distinction  to  be 
drawn  between  philosophical  or  scientific  reli- 
gious knowledge,  and  that  kind  of  religious 
knowledge  which  is  acquired  by  the  complete 
surrender  of  the  whole  personality  to  God. 
This  is  because  religion  is  more  than  knowl- 
edge. An  expert  theologian  is  not  necessarily 
a  truly  religious  man,  while  an  uneducated 
man  may  be  a  noble  example  of  religion.  This 
does  not  place  a  premium  on  ignorance.  It 
does  not  conflict  with  the  fact  that,  all  other 


RELIGION    AND   THEOLOGY  .  37 

things  being  equal,  he  who  knows  most  about 
God,  will  reach  the  highest  altitudes  of  charac- 
ter and  usefulness.  It  merely  argues  that  the 
essential  knowledge  required,  that  without 
which  no  moral  excellence  can  be  achieved,  is 
not  of  a  technical,  but  of  a  practical  kind.  To 
know  the  truth  most  worth  knowing  about 
God,  one  must  enter  into  conscious  fellowship 
with  him  and  strive  to  obey  him.  Without 
suffering  any  deterioration  in  the  religious  life, 
one  may  remain  ignorant  of  the  arguments  for 
the  existence  of  God.  One  will  not  be  any  less 
a  beautiful  exponent  of  Christianity  because  he 
cannot  or  does  not  understand  the  doctrine  of 
election,  or  the  infallible  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  or  the  Trinity.  But  what  a  man  is 
doing  with  the  life  and  the  commands  of  Christ 
has  much  to  do  with  the  character  of  his  reli- 
gion. Our  happiness,  welfare,  and  usefulness, 
then,  do  not  depend  primarily  upon  the  range 
of  our  theological  knowledge,  but  upon  our 
attitude  toward  those  principles  and  facts  that 
are  related  specifically  and  vitally  to  our  daily 
life.  The  religious  life  is  not  nurtured  and 
developed  by  merely  intellectual  processes. 
The  fundamental  truths  of  religion  must  be 
experienced  to  prove  of  any  value  to  the  soul. 


38    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

What  we  love  and  what  we  will  to  do  are 
vastly  more  important  questions  for  us  than 
what  we  know  about  theology  as  a  system  of 
knowledge  concerning  religion. 

Therefore  no  one  should  cease  seeking  fel- 
lowship with  God  because  theologies  change 
and  pass  away,  any  more  than  he  would  cease 
to  seek  his  health  and  to  delight  in  his  strength 
because  of  the  changes  in  medical  science. 

Paul  suggests  the  proper  relationship  in  the 
religious  life  between  knowledge  and  love 
when  he  says : 

Whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  be  done  away. 
For  we  know  in  part,  and  we  prophesy  in  part,  but  when 
that  which  is  perfect  is  come,  that  which  is  in  part  shall 
be  done  away. 

Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  love,  these  three;  and  the 
greatest  of  these  is  love. 


CHAPTER   III 

RELIGION  AND  MORALITY 

In  the  popular  mind  there  is  much  confu- 
sion respecting  the  relations  between  religion 
and  morals.  Many  church  members  think  that 
religious  people  are  those  who  are  going  to 
heaven,  while  the  irreligious  people  are  those 
who  are  eternally  lost.  In  order  to  go  to 
heaven,  so  they  say,  certain  doctrines  must  be 
accepted;  and  multitudes  would  add  another 
condition,  namely,  church  membership.  So  it 
has  come  to  pass  that  those  who  do  not  fulfil 
these  requirements  are  thought  to  be  without 
any  religion.  These  opinions,  honestly  held, 
are  often  severely  tested,  and  sometimes  aban- 
doned in  particular  instances,  as  every  minister 
can  testify.  Mothers  have  unbelieving  sons, 
wives  have  unbelieving  husbands,  who  are 
shining  examples  of  genuine  morality.  They 
are  honest  in  business,  good  citizens,  agreeable 
neighbors,  charitable  to  the  poor,  chaste  in 
their  habits,  loving  and  kind  in  their  homes. 
Realizing  how  superior  in  moral  character 
such  men  are  to  many  church  members,  loving 

39 


40    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

them  as  their  own  kin,  these  mothers  and 
wives  will  tell  you,  in  earnest  and  sincere  tones, 
that  if  anyone  is  going  to  heaven,  these  sons 
and  husbands  will  be  found  there.  Their 
theories  cannot  stand  before  love,  and  before 
the  consciousness  that,  somehow  or  other,  these 
good  men  ou^ht  to  be  saved,  even  if  they  are 
not  religious. 

In  what  respect  morality  is  related  to  reli- 
gion is,  therefore,  more  than  an  interesting 
speculative  problem.  It  is  one  of  great  prac- 
tical significance.  Can  one  be  good  without 
being  religious?  If  the  good  man  is  religious, 
what  do  those  popularly  classed  as  moral  men 
lack  which  those  classed  as  religious  possess? 
These  are  the  two  questions  to  which  we  shall 
attempt  an  answer. 

I .    Can  we  be  good  without  being  religious  ? 

Let  us  be  clear  as  to  what  we  mean  by 
"good."  Moral  philosophers  distinguish  be- 
tween "  right  "  and  "  good."  Right  conduct, 
they  say,  is  conformity  to  some  rule.  These 
rules,  however,  must  be  directed  toward  some 
useful  end.  They  do  not  agree  what  that  end  is ; 
but  for  convenience  sake  we  will  call  that  end 
the  Supreme  or  Highest  Good.  Conduct  directed 
toward  this  Supreme  Good,  whatever  that  may 


RELIGION    AND    MORALITY  4I 

be,  is  good  conduct.  But  what  the  individual 
does,  that  he  is.  He  who  does  right  is  good, 
because  he  cannot  be  truly  said  to  do  right  un- 
less his  motive  is  right.  Of  course,  libraries 
have  been  written  on  this  subject,  and  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  do  more  than  state  the  case 
as  simply  as  possible. 

The  chief  trait,  then,  in  the  moral  man, 
that  which  distinguishes  him  from  those  re- 
garded as  bad  or  immoral  men,  is  this :  The 
moral  man  tries  to  do  his  duty  from  right 
motives,  and  his  fidelity  to  his  obligations  is 
adorned  by  the  attractive  graces  of  unselfish- 
ness, sociability,  and  kindness.  If  the  moral 
man  gave  to  the  poor  to  get  votes;  if  he  were 
chaste  only  because  he  feared  indulgence  of 
passion  might  injure  his  business  by  ruining 
his  reputation ;  if  his  motive  was  bad,  we  could 
not  call  him  a  good  man,  in  the  common  ac- 
ceptation of  the  word.  It  may  be  said  that 
there  are  men  who  are  outwardly  good  for 
selfish  ends.  That  may  be  true;  but  people 
cease  to  regard  them  as  good  when  they  are 
found  out.  They  are  respected  and  trusted 
by  their  fellowmen  only  when  they  are  believed 
to  be  good  at  heart  as  well  as  good  in  deed. 

This  must  be  the  type  of  characters  for  us 


42    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

to  consider.  It  would  be  self-contradictory 
to  base  a  discussion  upon  a  character  out- 
wardly good,  but  inwardly  bad,  assuming  that 
such  a  thing  could  be. 

We  must  also  remember  that  when  it  is 
said  a  man  is  good,  the  word  "  good  "  is  used 
in  a  relative,  and  not  in  an  absolute,  sense.  If 
he  were  absolutely  good,  he  would  be  perfectly 
religious.  Then  there  would  be  no  problem; 
for  morality  and  religion  would  be  two  names 
for  the  same  thing. 

The  difficulty  arises  when  the  moral  man  is 
supposed  to  be  without  belief  in  God,  and  hence 
without  any  religion.  The  word  "  religion " 
we  now  use,  not  in  its  broadest  significance, 
but  as  involving  some  special  form  of  belief  in 
God. 

If  there  are  two  kinds  of  goodness,  a  reli- 
gious and  a  moral  kind,  then  the  merely  good 
man  is  not  religious  at  all.  But  are  there  two 
kinds?  Are  there  two  ways  to  tell  the  truth, 
to  resist  a  temptation,  to  pay  one's  debts,  to 
vote  fearlessly  and  conscientiously,  to  befriend 
the  needy,  to  love  one's  wife  and  children?  In 
so  far  as  a  man  does  right,  does  he  not  obey 
God?  In  so  far  as  he  is  good,  is  he  not  what 
God  wants  him  to  be  ?    The  truth  he  recognizes 


RELIGION    AND    MORALITY  43 

and  accepts  as  a  principle  of  conduct,  is  this 
not  God's  truth?  The  moral  laws  he  tries  to 
obey,  are  they  not  God's  laws  ?  Is  not  his  love 
for  the  moral  ideal,  and  his  subordination  of 
his  lower  self  to  reach  this  ideal  —  is  not  this  a 
leading  feature  in  the  highest  religion?  The 
struggle  to  do  right  is,  whether  one  knows  it 
or  not,  the  response  of  the  soul  to  the  claims  of 
God,  to  the  voice  of  God.  But  it  is  said  that 
this  moral  man  has  no  consciousness  of  God. 
Is  that  quite  true  ?  Would  it  not  be  nearer  the 
truth  to  say  that  he  is  only  partially  or  dimly 
conscious  of  God?  In  other  words,  the  differ- 
ence between  this  man  and  a  truly  religious 
character  is  not  that  one  has  no  religion  and 
the  other  has,  but  that  one  is  undeveloped  and 
the  other  is  developed,  or  one  has  little  religion 
and  the  other  much;  because,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  moral  man  is  partly  conscious  of  God, 
when  he  is  conscious  of  vital  moral  principles 
and  certain  high  ideals,  which  are  grounded  in 
the  Divine  Being. 

Compare  the  moral  man  with  a  witch- 
doctor in  a  savage  tribe  —  a  brutal,  ignorant 
slave  to  vices  of  the  worst  sort,  grossly  super- 
stitious. Yet  he  acts  as  a  priest  of  religion, 
dealing  in  incantations  to  ward  off  evil  spirits. 


44    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

He  is  religious;  but  his  attitude  toward  God 
is  that  of  blind  terror,  inspired  by  the  mys- 
terious forces  of  nature,  which  he  does  not 
understand.  He  is  a  savage ;  and  that  tells  the 
whole  story. 

The  moral  man  may  not  believe  in  a  per- 
sonal God;  or  he  may  be  an  agnostic,  and 
declare  that  he  does  not  know.  He  may  have 
reached  this  conclusion  after  honest  search ;  or 
he  may  have  become  indifferent  to  what  he  has 
been  taught  to  believe  is  religion,  from  one  or 
more  of  a  variety  of  causes.  Theological 
changes  may  have  confused  him ;  unfortunate 
experiences  with  professors  of  religion  may 
have  repelled  him  from  the  church.  Yet  the 
underlying  purpose  of  his  whole  nature  may 
be  one  of  exalted  and  unselfish  ambition  to  live 
nobly  and  usefully,  to  make  the  best  possible 
use  of  his  powers  for  humanity's  sake.  If  the 
moral  law  is  grounded  in  the  nature  of  the 
eternal  God;  if  truth  and  love  and  goodness 
center  in  him,  does  not  this  moral  man  have 
some  consciousness  of  the  things  of  God,  even 
though  he  cannot  yet  exclaim :  "  My  Father, 
who  art  in  heaven  "  ? 

Can  we  affirm,  without  an  irrepressible 
feeling  that  there  is  an  error  somewhere,  that 


RELIGION    AND    MORALITY  45 

the  savage  is  religious  and  the  moral  man  has 
no  religion  ? 

The  inability  to  pass  a  fair  judgment  on 
the  moral  man  is  traceable  to  a  desire  to  pre- 
serve certain  religious  standards.  But  true 
religion  will  not  suffer  by  viewing  this  subject 
broadly  and  dispassionately.  The  recognition 
of  the  religious  character  of  the  moral  man 
only  bridges  the  gulf  between  morality  and 
religion,  rendering  it  easier  for  moral  men  to 
enter  where  there  is  more  light  and  truth.  The 
gulf  is  not  closed.  It  is  not  affirmed  that  the 
scope  of  the  merely  moral  life  is  as  broad  as  the 
truly  religious  life.  This  will  appear  in  the 
consideration  of  the  second  question  proposed 
at  the  outset. 

2.    What,  then,  does  the  moral  man  lack? 

He  lacks  that  which,  in  the  last  analysis, 
is  the  source  of  the  highest  morality  —  with- 
out which  not  only  religion,  but  morality, 
would  perish.  That  something  is  conscious 
fellowship  with  the  Divine  Father;  the  recog- 
nition of  God  as  the  source  of  all  goodness; 
the  feeling  that  nature  and  man  find  their  unity 
and  only  explanation  in  the  eternal  God.  He 
lacks  that  clear  vision  of  the  higher  life,  that 
sweet  communion  with  the  spirit  that  dwells  in 


46    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

all  things,  which  brings  one  into  real  and  true 
harmony  with  God,  and  furnishes  those  mo- 
tives which  lie  back  of  all  good  conduct. 

Does  the  good  man  grow  up  isolated  from 
religious  influences?  In  the  majority  of  cases 
it  will  be  found  that  he  was  reared  by  a  reli- 
gious mother  in  a  religious  home,  and  that 
flowing  in  his  veins  are  those  religious  forces 
that  constitute  the  very  life-blood  of  civiliza- 
tion. To  think  of  individual  excellence  of  char- 
acter and  conduct  as  something  self-originated, 
developing  independently  of  those  religious  in- 
fluences everywhere  active,  is  to  create  an 
abstraction.  Such  men  do  not  exist.  Morality 
is  social  as  well  as  individual.  Social  ideals, 
social  habits,  and  public  opinion  vitally  affect 
the  individual,  who  inherits  a  fund  of  moral 
ideals,  and  is  reared  in  an  atmosphere  pervaded 
by  religious  thought  and  religious  feeling. 

Where  on  this  earth  are  to  be  found  com- 
munities in  which  there  are  social  security  and 
freedom,  justice  and  philanthropy,  respect  for 
women  and  protection  to  children,  without 
developed  religion?  The  rise  and  fall  of  na- 
tions, although  not  wholly  determined  by  reli- 
gion, are  nevertheless  intimately  connected 
with  the  growth  and  decline  of  religion. 


RELIGION    AND    MORALITY  4/ 

Do  not  these  facts  tend  to  show  that  the 
moral  man  is  Hving  on  borrowed  capital,  as  it 
were  ?  He  is  upheld  by  a  Power  which  he  does 
not  worship,  and  is  deeply  indebted  to  institu- 
tions and  literature  the  origin  and  significance 
of  which  he  fails  to  perceive.  In  short,  he  is 
what  he  is  largely  because  of  a  religion  he 
disowns. 

Furthermore,  morality  depends  upon  cer- 
tain sentiments,  affections,  aspirations.  Good 
conduct  does  not  create  itself.  It  is  the  expres- 
sion of  inward  ideas,  desires,  motives,  feelings. 
Its  source  is  in  the  soul.  The  continuance  of 
good  conduct  in  the  world  depends  upon  the 
development  of  right  motives  and  true  ideas. 

The  fundamental  question  in  ethics,  there- 
fore, is  the  ground  of  obligation.  Why  should 
we  be  honest  ?  Why  should  we  love  our  neigh- 
bor? Why  should  we  be  chaste  and  kind? 
These  questions  will  never  be  satisfactorily  and 
conclusively  answered  without  the  aid  of  reli- 
gion. To  say  that  the  end  is  self-realization  is 
not  enough.  God  must  be  recognized  as  the 
ultimate  ground  of  obligation  and  the  Perfect 
Ideal. 

Ezekiel  G.  Robinson  says: 

If  it  be  true  that  our  highest  aim  in  life  should  be 
the  realization  of  the  highest  ideal  manhood,  and  if  the 


48    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

highest  ideal  manhood  consists  in  a  resemblance  to  the 
perfect  archetype  of  all  personal  being,  then  our  ultimate 
ground  of  obligation  should  be  looked  for  in  the  moral 
nature  of  the  original  and  archetypal  being  —  God. 

In  the  feeling  that  we  are  God's  children 
we  find  a  powerful  incentive  to  seek  the  welfare 
of  our  neighbors  who  are  our  brothers.  In  the 
feeling  that  we  are  made  in  the  image  of  God 
we  find  a  motive  to  avoid  all  those  things  which 
deface  and  disgrace  this  image.  In  the  recog- 
nition of  God  as  everywhere  present  we  rejoice 
to  discover  that  in  obeying  what  we  call  moral 
laws  we  are  doing  those  things  which  a  filial 
love  of  God  requires  us  to  do. 

Professor  John  S.  Mackenzie,  in  his  Manual 
of  Ethics,  after  discussing  the  various  theories 
respecting  the  ultimate  ground  of  obligation  or 
duty,  all  of  which  leave  God  out  of  account, 
says:  "It  must  be  evident  to  the  discerning 
reader  that,  in  what  has  gone  before,  we  have 
occasionally  been  skating  on  rather  thin  ice. 
The  ultimate  questions  to  which  we  have  been 
led  have  not  received  any  quite  satisfactory 
solution."  All  ethical  systems  lead  inevitably 
to  the  temple  of  worship.  Ethical  teachers 
may  philosophize  and  lay  down  very  useful 
rules;   but  they  cannot  ground  these  rules  on 


RELIGION    AND    MORALITY  49 

any  firm  foundation,  and  they  cannot  suggest 
any  power  that  will  induce  men  to  obey  the 
rules,  unless  they  take  God  into  their  counsels 
and  point  sinful  souls  to  him  as  the  source  of 
all  moral  energy. 

Knowledge  of  the  right  is  no  doubt  essen- 
tial; but  most  men  fail  in  the  performance  of 
duty,  not  for  want  of  knowledge,  but  for  lack 
of  moral  power  to  do  that  which  they  believe  to 
be  right.  We  cannot  acquire  that  power  unless 
our  souls  are  inspired  and  sustained  by  power- 
ful incentives  and  holy  affections. 

Lastly,  life  is  not  merely  conformity  to 
moral  laws,  faithful  performance  of  duties. 
Our  hearts  crave  rest,  peace,  joy,  the  sense  of 
harmony  and  fellowship  with  all  things.  Be- 
sides the  satisfaction  arising  from  fidelity  to 
earthly  obligations,  the  truly  religious  man's 
life  is  enriched  and  strengthened  by  the  con- 
templation of  divine  things,  by  sweet  com- 
munion with  the  Father.  He  does  not  feel  that 
isolation  and  loneliness,  that  despair  and  doubt, 
which  agitates  the  souls  of  those  who  cannot 
look  with  hope  beyond  the  grave,  nor  feel  that 
back  of  the  shifting  panorama  of  the  universe 
and  the  varied  experiences  of  mankind  there  is 
a  divine  life.     To  stop  short  of  this  point,  as 


50    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

President  Hyde  well  says,  "  is  to  leave  our 
world  incompleted,  our  minds  unsatisfied,  our 
hearts  unfilled,  our  wills  unfree.  It  is  the  re- 
luctance of  the  mind  and  heart  to  accept  this 
lame  and  impotent  conclusion,  the  refusal  of 
the  will  to  withdraw  from  the  field  at  this  stage 
of  the  contest,  that  drives  man  with  the  eager- 
ness of  an  infinite  passion  on  into  the  sphere  of 
religion." 

So  conscience  and  duty,  the  watchwords  of 
the  moral  man,  point  to  God.  The  search  for 
unity  and  for  the  ground  of  moral  obligations 
leads  to  him.  The  soul  of  man  will  never  find 
itself,  wall  never  achieve  rest  and  peace,  in  the 
mere  effort  to  live  up  tO'  a  moral  ideal  stripped 
of  all  relationship  to  God,  the  ultimate  source 
of  all  our  ideals  of  duty.  We  cannot  really 
love  abstract  truth.  We  must  love  persons. 
We  must  find  our  deepest  and  truest  inspira- 
tion to  do  right  in  the  love  of  God. 


CHAPTER   IV 
RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH 

Are  religious  societies  essential  to  the  main- 
tenance and  spread  of  religion?  Or,  are  they 
arbitrary  creations  of  priests  to  perpetuate 
their  influence  over  society?  Could  we  not 
get  along  without  them,  and  find  in  other 
societies  and  institutions  substitutes  adequate 
to  all  our  individual  and  social  needs?  Thou- 
sands of  people  seem  to  think  that  churches 
encumber  the  earth,  or  at  least,  however  much 
some  may  need  them,  that  they  can  get  along 
quite  as  well  without  them. 

A  man  could  go  through  life  blind  or 
crippled.  Millions  have  lived  and  died  in 
poverty  and  in  ignorance.  Does  this  prove 
that  a  complete  body  is  undesirable,  or  that 
man's  best  life  can  be  lived  in  poverty  or  in 
ignorance  ?  The  question,  therefore,  which  one 
ought  to  ask  is  not :  "  Can  I  exist  without  the 
fellowship  of  a  church  ?  "  but  rather  :  "  Is  the 
church  a  natural  institution,  originating  in 
response  to  the  soul's  deepest  needs,  and  abso- 
lutely essential  to  the  highest  development  of 
SI 


52    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

mankind?"  If  it  be  found  that  the  church  is 
not  a  cunning  device  to  keep  ahve  superstitions, 
but  is  a  normal  and  inevitable  expression  of 
man's  religious  experience,  and  can  be  ex- 
plained only  by  considering  certain  universal 
laws,  then  the  individual's  duty  toward  the 
church  is  seen  in  its  true  light. 

We  live  in  the  midst,  not  only  of  indi- 
viduals, but  of  groups  of  individuals,  associa- 
tions, and  institutions.  The  origin  of  the 
community  life,  of  governmental  and  industrial 
organizations,  of  schools  and  fraternal  societies, 
is  not  due  to  caprice.  Natural  laws  determined 
the  appearance  of  associational  life  and  its 
development  upon  the  earth.  Down  deep  in 
the  human  heart  are  certain  intensely  active 
cravings  or  desires  which  constitute  the  main- 
spring of  progress.  As  man  advances  step  by 
step  from  the  savage  stage,  he  is  pushed  on 
from  within.  These  internal  forces  have 
always  been  at  work,  and  without  them  man 
would  sink  back  into  primitive  barbarism.  So, 
when  we  inquire  why  society  has  courts  of 
law,  legislatures,  industrial  organizations, 
schools  and  colleges,  we  must  seek  the  answer 
in  the  soul  of  man.  The  visible  institution  is 
the  manifestation  of  what  has  been  going  on  in 


RELIGION   AND  THE  CHURCH  53 

the  inner  life,  just  as  the  trees  and  the  flowers, 
the  streams  and  the  mountains,  are  the  out- 
ward expression  of  unseen  forces. 

Experts  differ  as  to  the  exact  nature  and 
number  of  the  desires  which  impel  men  to  seek 
one  another's  society,  and  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  institutions.  But  they  all  agree  that 
language,  literature,  science,  art,  customs,  laws, 
and  governments  are  the  visible  fruit  or  prod- 
uct of  these  desires,  and  that  all  these  change 
in  accordance  with  corresponding  changes  in 
the  soul  of  man.  Various  forces  combine  to 
aid  man  in  the  effort  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of 
his  inner  life.  His  increasing  knowledge,  the 
product  of  expanding  experience,  shows  him 
the  mistakes  of  the  past,  and  helps  him  to 
improve  the  institutions  which  he  inherits. 

No  one  desire  is  responsible  for  any  institu- 
tion. Some  one  desire  may  be  more  marked  in 
its  influence  than  others;  but  there  is  an  inti- 
mate connection  between  all  of  them,  and,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  each  human  activity  and 
each  social  institution  is  the  expression  of  a 
combination  of  impulses  and  desires,  thoughts 
and  ideals. 

Let  us  note  some  of  these  desires  and  ob- 
serve their  effects. 


54    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

The  desire  for  health  leads  men  to  study 
the  human  body  and  the  medicinal  properties 
of  various  substances.  It  leads  to  schools  of 
medicine,  hospitals,  asylums,  and  other  institu- 
tions intended  to  promote  health.  It  also  in- 
cites to  activities  for  the  procuring  of  food  and 
clothes  and  houses,  so  that  life  may  be  sus- 
tained. 

The  desire  for  wealth,  and  for  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  which  wealth  can  furnish,  is  a 
powerful  incentive,  to  which  may  be  traced 
manufacturing,  trade  and  commerce,  and  a 
variety  of  industrial  organizations. 

The  desire  for  knowledge  finds  expression 
in  libraries,  schools,  and  colleges. 

The  desire  for  social  order  and  for  justice 
gives  rise  to  governments  and  judiciary  institu- 
tions, with  all  the  established  customs,  laws, 
and  institutions  involved  therein. 

Not  to  pursue  these  illustrations  further,  is 
it  not  apparent  that  social  institutions  grow  up 
as  naturally  as  flowers  spring  out  of  the 
ground,  or  as  water  is  drawn  by  the  sun  into 
clouds  ? 

Men  associate  themselves  together  because 
they  cannot  help  it.  They  are  drawn  to  one 
another  by  invisible  forces,  and  the  product  of 


RELIGION   AND  THE  CHURCH  55 

this  co-operation  is  institutional  life  and  social 
groups  developing  according  to  natural  laws. 

Certain  kinds  of  institutions  and  laws  may 
seem  to  have  a  definite  beginning  at  some  fixed 
time,  but  there  are  elements  in  every  institution 
which  can  be  traced  back  to  the  distant  past. 
No  expression  of  the  social  life  can  be  under- 
stood unless  it  is  viewed  historically  as  the 
outgrowth  of  the  nature  of  man  and  the  prod- 
uct of  centuries  of  human  development.  Social 
institutions,  therefore,  do  not  spring  up  be- 
cause a  body  of  men  came  together  and  said : 
"  Go  to  now,  let  us  make  literature,  or  establish 
an  industrial  system,  or  organize  government." 
These  things  grow,  and  they  grow  out  of  the 
human  soul  in  harmony  with,  and  obedience  to, 
universal  laws. 

Now,  then,  the  important  question  before 
us  is  this :  Do  religious  organizations  exist  in 
response  to  universal  needs  ?  Do  they  obey  the 
same  laws  which  control  and  determine  the 
origin  and  growth  of  all  other  social  institu- 
tions? Our  line  of  inquiry  will  apply  to  all 
forms  of  religious  organizations,  although  the 
advanced  religious  bodies,  such  as  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  churches,  more  clearly  illustrate 
the  ideas  expressed.    Which  of  the  many  claim- 


56    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

ants  for  the  honor  is  the  true  church  does  not 
concern  us,  because  all  churches  are  rooted 
in  human  needs,  which  is  the  main  proposition 
to  be  considered.  When  one  is  convinced  of 
that,  his  duty  becomes  quite  clear,  and  he  may- 
well  be  left  to  his  own  sense  of  his  personal 
needs  and  his  individual  tastes  to  select  that 
church  in  which  to  worship  and  to  labor  which 
seems  best  fitted  to  his  life.  He  must  be  a 
remarkable  and  unique  character  who  cannot 
find,  among  the  variety  of  churches  and  sects, 
some  local  communion  which  may  contribute 
something  to  his  life,  and  with  which  he  may 
co-operate  for  the  promotion  of  the  general 
welfare. 

To  make  men  realize  the  privileges  and 
duties  of  patriotism,  it  is  first  necessary  to 
inculcate  those  truths  upon  which  the  duty  of 
the  citizen  to  his  country  is  founded.  Does 
the  individual  love  his  country  and  seek  its 
welfare?  If  so,  he  must  support  political  insti- 
tutions of  some  kind.  Partisan  issues,  however 
important,  are  not  so  vital  as  the  question  of 
patriotic  loyalty  to  the  fundamental  institutions 
of  the  country.  One's  sense  of  loyalty  may 
lead  him  to  seek  a  change  in  these  institutions, 
or  to  join  one  political  party  in  preference  to 


RELIGION   AND  THE  CHURCH  57 

another,  or  to  be  thoroughly  independent  of 
parties ;  but  he  will  not  hold  himself  aloof  from 
all  political  institutions,  and  remain  totally  in- 
different to  them,  if  he  truly  wishes  to  promote 
his  country's  welfare. 

A  church  is  a  social  group,  a  fraternal  or- 
ganization. It  is  a  nobler  expression  of  the 
brotherhood  principle  than  those  societies  and 
lodges  which  are  confined  to  one  sex  or  to 
adults.  It  includes  men,  women,  and  children. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  brotherhood  in  this 
world  that  excludes  women  and  children.  So- 
cieties which  do  so  can  never  truly  represent, 
in  miniature,  the  world-wide  brotherhood 
which  is  the  goal  of  humanity.  So,  too,  the 
church  takes  in  all  classes,  rich  and  poor,  edu- 
cated and  ignorant.  All  this  is  true  because 
religion  is  essentially  social.  It  constitutes  one 
of  the  spiritual  bonds  of  society.  It  is  a  phase 
of  man's  craving  for  sociability,  for  companion- 
ship. The  higher  the  religious  life,  the  more 
adequately  will  the  brotherhood  feature  of  reli- 
gion be  expressed  in  the  religious  organization. 

It  will  perhaps  be  said  that  these  observa- 
tions do  not  correspond  with  the  actual  facts, 
for  the  contest  between  sects  and  the  quarrels 
of  churches  are  most  notorious.     It  is,  indeed, 


58    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

true  that  churches  do  not  hve  up  to  their  ideals ; 
or,  to  put  it  in  another  and  truer  way,  the  ideal 
is  not  yet  as  clear  as  it  will  be  some  day.  But 
experience  with  all  other  societies  boasting  of 
their  fraternal  features  will  convince  the 
thoughtful  that  all  brotherhood  up  to  date 
means  brotherhood  limited.  The  trade  unions, 
the  Masonic  and  other  fraternal  societies,  are 
made  up  of  men  whose  consciousness  of 
brotherhood  does  not  extend  much  beyond  their 
favorite  group,  and  it  seldom  reaches  all  the 
members  of  that  fellowship.  The  clashing  of 
groups  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  modern 
life.  There  is  an  intense  group-consciousness, 
which  must  be  further  developed  to  close  the 
chasm  between  groups  and  eventuate  in  a  con- 
sciousness that  all  men  are  brothers. 

But  the  point  we  insist  upon  is  that  religious 
societies,  like  all  other  fraternities,  owe  their 
existence,  in  no  small  degree,  to  the  craving 
for  fellowship.  The  community  life  is  a  step 
in  advance  of  unrestricted  individualism,  which 
is  anarchy  and  barbarism.  Men  follow  this 
impulse  toward  unity  up  to  a  certain  point,  and 
then  stop,  restrained  by  false  ideas,  inherited 
prejudices,  and  other  forms  of  human  weak- 
ness.    They  allow  mistaken  conceptions  of  life 


RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH  59 

to  overrule  the  dictates  of  the  heart.  Theories 
keep  men  apart  as  well  as  hatred  and  jealousy. 

The  churches,  however,  do  exhibit  a  spirit 
of  brotherhood  to  a  greater  extent  than  is  often 
conceded,  and  they  have  been  an  indispensable 
social  factor  in  the  evolution  of  human  fellow- 
ship. They  furnish  that  social  environment 
which  is  essential  to  the  development  of  the 
individual's  religious  life.  Lawyers,  physi- 
cians, workingmen,  business  men,  artists,  and 
literary  men  feel  the  need  of  some  social  co- 
operation for  the  promotion  of  common  inter- 
ests and  the  development  of  their  own  lives. 
They  know  that  knowledge  is  broadened  and 
usefulness  is  enhanced  by  contact  with  those 
of  the  same  profession  or  business. 

William  Morris  makes  John  Ball  say  in  his 
sermon : 

Forsooth,  brothers,  fellowship  is  heaven,  and  lack 
of  fellowship  is  hell ;  fellowship  is  life,  and  lack  of 
fellowship  is  death;  and  the  deeds  that  ye  do  upon  the 
earth  it  is  for  fellowship's  sake  that  ye  do  them,  and 
for  the  life  that  is  in  it,  that  shall  live  on  and  on  for- 
ever, and  each  one  of  you  part  of  it,  while  many  a 
man's  life  upon  the  earth  from  the  earth  shall  wane. 

So  the  religious  society,  being  a  group  of 
persons  bound  together  by  a  common  interest 
in  pursuit  of  certain  high  ends,  affords  just  that 


6o    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

environment  in  which  the  individual  may  culti- 
vate his  spiritual  nature  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances.  Since  the  moral  life  of 
each  individual  is  shaped  to  a  great  degree  by 
group-sentiments  and  group-ideals,  each  indi- 
vidual should  seek  closer  affiliation  with  that 
group  where  the  ideals  of  life  are  purest  and 
highest.  In  the  friendship  and  sympathy  of 
those  who  are  seeking  fellowship  with  God,  the 
individual  will  find  the  social  influence  essential 
to  the  broad  development  of  his  moral  life. 

Again,  the  benevolent  impulse,  the  desire 
to  assist  the  distressed  and  afflicted,  draws 
people  together  in  religious  societies.  It  is  not 
claimed  that  this  desire  has  operated  with  equal 
force  in  all  ages  or  in  all  religions.  However 
feebly  the  benevolent  impulses  may  manifest 
themselves,  they  have  always  been  present  in 
humanity,  and  for  two  thousand  years  they 
have  been  a  marked  characteristic  of  Christian 
churches. 

The  individual  who  desires  to  serve  his 
fellow-men  needs  courage,  stimulus,  direction, 
training.  The  mere  desire  to  render  assistance 
is  not  sufficient  to  guarantee  the  best  results. 
Knowledge  of  what  the  helpless  and  unfor- 
tunate really  need  is  necessary  to  render  the 


RELIGION   AND  THE   CHURCH  6l 

desire  to  serve  effective.  There  are  thousands 
of  people,  trying  to  spread  happiness,  who 
ignore  the  vital  conditions  of  true  human  wel- 
fare. Various  ameliorative  schemes  and  or- 
ganizations for  mutual  aid  are  carried  on  with- 
out reference  to  man's  deepest  spiritual  needs. 
If  one  wishes  to  benefit  his  fellow-men  in  the 
most  substantial  and  permanent  way,  he  cannot 
afford  to  neglect  religion  and  the  church.  The 
church  has  done  a  vast  amount  of  good  in 
fostering  and  directing  the  philanthropic  de- 
sires of  mankind. 

In  the  world-wide  struggle  against  sin, 
ignorance,  and  poverty,  the  individual  who 
battles  alone  places  himself  in  hostility  to  the 
tendency  of  the  ages.  Co-operation  is  the 
noblest  achievement  of  civilization.  Social 
order  and  social  progress  began  when  men 
banded  themselves  together  for  the  common 
good.  We  are  born  for  sympathetic  and  help- 
ful relationships.  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  bur- 
dens," is  not  only  an  injunction  of  an  apostle, 
it  is  a  law  of  life.  It  is  not  merely  a  duty,  it  is 
a  privilege.  It  does  not  mean  self-sacrifice  in 
the  old  and  popular  sense.  It  is  the  only  way 
to  save  ourselves,  to  realize  the  ends  for  which 
we  were  born.     Among  the  many  ends   for 


62    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

which  men  co-operate,  none  surpasses  in  dig- 
nity and  significance  that  of  the  moral  better- 
ment of  mankind.  This  is  distinctively  the 
mission  of  the  church. 

The  desire  for  inspiration,  comfort,  sym- 
pathy is  universal.  In  the  struggle  of  life 
everybody  feels  the  need  of  a  kind  and  encour- 
aging word;  something  to  brighten  life,  to 
give  hope  and  peace.  Multitudes  attend  the 
churches  on  quiet  Sundays,  weary  in  mind  and 
body,  agitated  by  the  conflicts  of  the  week, 
weighed  down  with  cares  and  griefs,  knowing 
by  precious  experience  that  they  will  find  rest 
and  joy  in  the  music,  prayers,  and  sermon. 
Here  they  will  be  greeted  by  friendly  faces  and 
cheered  by  words  of  sympathy. 

Let  not  the  shortcomings  of  the  churches 
blind  us  to  the  good  they  have  done  and  still 
do.  Every  observer  who  takes  broad  views  of 
things  must  acknowledge  that  God  has  given 
consolation  to  the  bereaved  and  inspiration  to 
the  despondent  through  the  friendliness  of 
those  who  meet  together  for  common  worship. 
The  ministrations  of  the  church  to  the  poor  and 
sick  have  been  of  incalculable  benefit  to  man- 
kind. Witness  the  hospitals,  asylums,  charit- 
able and  other  philanthropic  institutions,  which 


RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH  63 

the  church  has  founded,  or  caused  to  be 
founded,  through  its  influence  over  the  benevo- 
lent impulse  of  its  members.  No  other  institu- 
tion approaches  the  church  in  this  field,  and  no 
other  institution  can  take  its  place,  because  the 
church  is  the  custodian  of  those  influences, 
inspirations,  ideals,  and  truths  which  are  essen- 
tial to  the  maintenance  and  further  develop- 
ment of  uplifting  and  ministering  institutions. 
It  is  the  love  of  God  and  his  creatures  which 
constitutes  the  unfailing  spring  of  sympathy 
and  philanthropic  activities.  To  spread  this 
love  among  men  is  the  church's  chief  privilege 
and  sacred  mission. 

Lastly,  the  church  is  a  visible  expression  of 
man's  desire  for  righteousness.  We  have  al- 
ready seen  that  man's  consciousness  of  sin  and 
recognition  of  a  higher  life,  his  inborn  craving 
for  harmony  with  his  environment  and  peace 
with  God,  are  distinctive  traits  of  human 
nature.  In  this  respect,  as  in  the  others,  the 
religious  society  is  founded  on  human  necessity. 

We  are  beginning  to  see  that  the  problems 
of  sin  and  righteousness  are  problems  in  edu- 
cation; not  that  sin  can  be  uprooted  by  mere 
intellectual  development,  but  that  the  way  to 
save  the  world  from  sin  is  to  save  the  children; 


64    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

and  the  way  to  save  the  children  is  to  train 
them  from  the  cradle  in  the  love  and  service  of 
God,  so  that  their  whole  life  will  be  one  con- 
tinuous, normal  development  in  harmony  with 
God.  This  ideal  is  hazy  enough  yet,  to  be  sure, 
because  for  many  years  to  come  the  problem  of 
the  adult  sinner  will  remain. 

Rightly  viewed,  then,  the  church  is  a 
training-school  for  righteousness.  The  desire 
to  be  good,  like  the  other  desires  mentioned, 
needs  to  be  directed  by  education.  Knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  the  true  ideal  of  life  is  essen- 
tial. Power  of  will  has  to  be  secured.  Sym- 
pathy with  the  good  has  to  be  cultivated. 
Moral  strength,  courage,  and  endurance  must 
be  developed,  if  the  perceived  and  cherished 
ideals  are  to  be  realized.  It  is  not  enough  to 
awaken  holy  sentiments  and  enthusiastic  appre- 
ciation of  some  beautiful  ideal  of  love  or 
service;  the  beholder  must  be  sustained  by 
inward  power  in  the  real  battle  of  life,  to  be 
loyal  to  his  ideals.  This  work  belongs  pecu- 
liarly to  the  church.  It  renders  its  truest 
service  to  humanity  when  it  takes  man's  desire 
for  righteousness,  interprets  it,  unfolds  the 
ideal,  and  helps  man  to  realize  it. 

But  some  will  ask  :    "  Need  we  go  to  school 


RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH  65 

to  be  educated  ?  "  The  possibility  of  getting  an 
education  without  going  to  school  need  not  be 
denied,  although  it  is  a  debatable  question 
whether  such  an  education  as  the  schools  and 
colleges  furnish  can  be  had  without  the  various 
advantages  of  school  life.  Still,  let  us  concede 
that  the  thing  is  possible,  and  that  many  edu- 
cated men  have  never  been  to  school.  Is  that 
the  real  issue,  after  all  ?  How  many  would  get 
an  education  if  there  were  no  schools?  What 
would  society  be  without  them?  As  civiliza- 
tion progresses,  the  number  of  schools  in- 
creases, and  the  range  of  their  influence  ex- 
pands. Will  anyone  deny  that  schools  are 
essential  to  satisfy  the  general  desire  for 
knowledge,  or  affirm  that  society  would  be  as 
well  off  without  these  social  institutions?  If 
all  this  is  also  true  of  churches  in  relation  to 
the  religious  life,  as  has  been  shown,  it  is  appar- 
ent that  those  who  are  indifferent  to  the 
churches,  who  insist  upon  their  children  going 
to  school,  but  neglect  their  religious  develop- 
ment by  allowing  them  to  keep  away  from 
churches,  commit  a  fatal  mistake.  Here  and 
there  some  may  "get  along"  without  the 
churches;  but,  abandoning  the  field  of  theory, 
and  taking  life  as  we  find  it,  the  multitude  that 
tries  to  live  without  the  church  suffers. 


66   PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

As  millions  go  through  life  intellectually 
starving  because  they  had  no  schooling,  or 
because  their  school  days  ended  early  in  life,  so 
the  multitudes  who  forsake  the  church  deprive 
themselves  of  a  moral  education  which  they 
greatly  need. 

There  is  another  view  of  this  indifference 
to  the  church,  which  applies  more  to  the  com- 
paratively few  who  are  admirable  specimens  of 
morality,  but  who  give  churches  a  wide  berth 
or  attend  rarely.  Although  we  are  not  willing 
to  grant  that  any  man  is  better  because  he 
refuses  to  associate  himself  with  some  religious 
society,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument  let  us 
concede  that  some  do  exhibit  fine  traits  of  char- 
acter without  fellowship  with  religious  socie- 
ties. If  it  be  true,  as  we  think  has  been 
proved,  that  modern  churches  do  promote  the 
general  welfare,  and  if  the  masses  need  the 
churches,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  attitude  of 
indifference  assumed  by  some  moral  men  to 
these  institutions  so  essential  to  religion? 
Think  of  the  millions  of  men  and  women, 
struggling  amid  privations,  afflictions,  and 
temi)tations,  attracted  by  glimpses  of  a  higher 
life,  yet  battling  with  inferior  desires,  and  bur- 
dened with  many  cares  and  trials!     Think  of 


RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH  67 

the  havoc  caused  by  wrongdoing!  Think  of 
the  abuse  of  noble  faculties  and  the  gross  satis- 
faction of  desires  legitimate  in  themselves! 
Think  of  the  tears  and  heart-aches  and  troubles 
due  to  sin !  Think  of  this  whole  spectacle  of 
mankind  struggling  for  righteousness  in  the 
face  of  unfavorable  conditions,  or  hopelessly 
enslaved  by  inherited  evil  tendencies  or  ac- 
quired weakness !  Can  a  man  admit  that  these 
millions  need  the  churches,  that  churches  can 
and  do  assist  these  burden-bearers  and  suf- 
ferers, and  yet  justify  himself  in  his  refusal  to 
help  the  church  perform  its  noble  mission? 
Simply  because  he  was  born  with  superior  en- 
dowments and  reared  amid  favorable  condi- 
tions, so  that  he  can  keep  himself  "unspotted 
from  the  world,"  is  it  right  for  him  to  withhold 
the  helping  hand  from  his  struggling  fellow- 
men?  It  is  not  only  a  question  of  what  the 
church  can  do  for  us,  but  what  we  can  do  for 
those  to  whom  the  church  ministers.  "  To  go 
it  alone"  may  smack  of  independence;  but  it  is 
just  that  sort  of  independence  which,  if  it  be- 
came a  universal  practice,  would  shatter  the 
foundations  of  civilized  society,  deal  a  death- 
blow to  every  philanthropic  institution,  and 
revive  the  ancient  regime  of  barbarism. 


68    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

Noblesse  oblige.  The  spirit  of  the  true 
knight  and  gentleman  requires  every  man  of 
influence  and  character  to  support  those  insti- 
tutions which  history  proves  to  be  essential  to 
the  progress  of  civilization  and  the  highest 
welfare  of  humanity.  It  argues  a  serious  de- 
fect in  character  —  suggesting  that  perhaps 
those  who  say  they  do  not  need  the  church  may 
need  it  most  of  all  —  when  one  is  content  to 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  others'  sacrifices  and  labors, 
without  doing  one's  share  of  the  world's  work. 

We  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  the  mis- 
takes of  religious  bodies.  Dissensions,  cruelty, 
and  persecution  have  marked  the  history  of 
the  church.  Creeds  have  tyrannized  over  life, 
and  orthodoxy  has  been  preferred  to  loving- 
kindness.  The  church  has  been  regarded  as  an 
end  in  itself,  instead  of  a  means  to  promote 
righteousness  and  brotherhood.  The  church 
has  hidden  Christ  as  well  as  revealed  him.  The 
Christian  church,  like  all  other  religious  so- 
cieties, is  a  human  institution  as  well  as  an 
abiding-place  for  the  spirit  of  God.  The  weak- 
ness of  human  nature  has  expressed  itself  in 
the  church,  as  it  does  in  every  human  institu- 
tion. Men  have  had  to  leave  some  churches  in 
the  interests  of  their  own  souls  and  a  higher 


RELIGION  AND  THE  CHURCH  69 

religious  life  for  the  world.  All  churches  are 
not  equally  promoting  the  best  interests  of 
mankind.  But  the  same  may  be  said  of  gov- 
ernments, courts,  industrial  organizations, 
schools,  and  family  life ;  yet  no  sane  man  would 
seek  relief  from  the  ills  of  organization  by 
advocating  absolute  anarchy.  The  principle  of 
organization,  the  benefits  of  association,  the 
delights  of  companionship,  are  too  well  estab- 
lished to  render  it  likely  that  the  world  will 
return  to  the  individualism  of  savagery. 

Theories  aside,  practical  experience  with 
many  types  of  human  life  has  convinced  us  that 
most  men  stay  out  of  the  church  not  because 
they  cherish  higher  ideals  than  those  who  are 
in  the  church.  In  many  cases  it  is  the  love  of 
self,  the  desire  to  gratify  lower  desires  unre- 
strained by  considerations  of  duty.  In  others 
it  is  sheer  indifference  to  one's  true  welfare, 
and  a  failure  tO'  appreciate  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  religious  worship  and  instruction. 
While  no  church  may  be  perfect,  there  are 
thousands  that  could  prove  of  incalculable  bene- 
fit to  those  who  spurn  their  aid.  The  general 
tendency,  the  dominant  influence,  of  the 
churches  is  on  the  side  of  righteousness.  They 
can  be  improved  because  man  himself  is  not 


70    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

perfect.  Nevertheless,  the  church  is  the  mighti- 
est moral  force  in  modern  society.  The  world 
needs  its  teaching  and  its  inspiration.  Love 
and  good  works  are  promoted  by  its  ministra- 
tions, and  the  individual  soul  is  strengthened 
by  its  influences  to  encounter  temptation  and 
to  bear  the  burdens  of  our  common  humanity. 


CHAPTER   V 
RELIGION   AND    SOCIAL   PROGRESS 

Ruskin  was  once  invited  tO'  tell  his  York- 
shire friends  how  to  build  a  suitable  exchange 
for  Bradford.  Instead  of  talking  about  styles 
of  architecture,  he  gave  them  a  lecture  on  taste 
and  life.  "  Pardon  me  for  telling  you  frankly," 
he  said,  "that  you  cannot  have  good  archi- 
tecture merely  by  asking  people's  advice  on 
occasion.  All  good  architecture  is  the  expres- 
sion of  national  life  and  character;  and  it  is 
produced  by  a  prevalent  and  eager  national 
taste,  or  desire  for  beauty." 

It  has  been  said  that  all  industrial  problems 
are  fast  becoming  political  problems,  and  that 
political  problems  are  in  turn  becoming  reli- 
gious problems.  This  is  not  one  of  those 
plausible,  catchy  generalities,  with  more  rhyme 
than  sense,  which  confuse  rather  than  enlighten. 
It  is  based  upon  a  profound  fact,  of  which  we 
are  all  slowly  becoming  conscious.  Social 
progress  is  dependent  upon  human  character. 
What  we  are  determines  what  we  do  and  why 
we  do  it. 

71 


72    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

Science,  art,  literature,  and  law  are  not 
distinct  entities,  things  existing  in  themselves 
apart  from  the  souls  of  men,  and  acting  for 
good  or  ill  upon  the  lives  of  men.  They  are 
the  expressions  of  the  human  soul.  It  is  not 
art  or  science  which  progresses  so  much  as  it 
is  the  soul.  It  is  man  who  advances.  Indus- 
trial systems  and  political  governments  are 
infallible  signs  of  the  mental  and  moral  state 
of  those  who  live  under  them. 

So  social  progress  means  ultimately  pro- 
gress in  thought,  feeling,  and  will-power.  It 
means  the  continuous  conscious  adaptation  of 
man  to  his  spiritual  and  physical  environment. 
The  most  important  element  in  this  progress 
is  man's  religious  life.  We  do  not  mean  that 
every  religious  doctrine  or  every  religious  in- 
stitution has  been  uniformly  on  the  side  of 
social  progress,  but  that  man's  inborn  desire  to 
seek  right  relations  with  God,  nature,  and  his 
fellow-men  is  the  chief  source  of  social  better- 
ment. All  governments  and  courts  of  justice 
have  not  been  friendly  to  social  progress,  but 
the  desire  for  social  order  and  the  love  of 
justice  are  human  impulses,  right  in  them- 
selves, and  ever  impelling  men  to  seek  right 
political  relations. 


RELIGION    AND    SOCIAL    PROGRESS  '/'}) 

In  this  sense,  we  affirm  that  religion  is  es- 
sential to  social  progress.  And  as  the  religious 
life  develops,  as  religions  are  purified  and 
brought  into  closer  harmony  with  the  divine 
life,  all  forms  of  social  life,  all  institutions  and 
activities,  are  affected  for  good.  In  other 
words,  where  we  find  the  most  exalted  ideas 
of  God,  and  the  strongest  desire  to  love  and  to 
obey  God,  there  we  find  the  cleanest,  happiest, 
and  most  prosperous  society. 

The  moral  life  of  man,  then,  is  bound  to 
seek  expression  in  literature,  politics,  and  in- 
dustry. To  improve  governments,  to  secure 
peace  in  industrial  circles,  to  enable  men  to 
employ  their  leisure  aright,  to  correct  methods 
of  industry  so  that  they  will  minister  to  char- 
acter, to  establish  justice  upon  the  earth,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  man  should  be  de- 
veloped in  true  religion. 

Consider  the  economic  loss  and  the  eco- 
nomic friction  arising  from  moral  delinquency. 
Dishonesty,  laziness,  greed,  unrestrained  am- 
bition, inhumanity  are  among  the  causes  of  in- 
dustrial problems.  No  business  could  long  exist 
in  which  the  employees  were  all  thieves  or 
drunkards  or  libertines.  How  many  concerns 
have  failed,  not  because  the  proprietors  lacked 


74    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

business  sagacity  and  energy,  but  because  of 
dishonesty  or  greed,  or  moral  delinquency  of 
some  sort!  How  strenuously  do  banks  and 
railroad  corporations  insist  upon  securing  em- 
ployees of  good  moral  character!  Industrial 
problems  are  a  thousand  times  more  difficult 
of  solution  because  men  try  to  overreach  one 
another,  trample  upon  principles  of  brother- 
hood, and  aim  at  profits  or  wages  instead  of 
social  service. 

Does  it  require  argument  to  prove  that  the 
real  political  problem  is  not  to  spread  political 
knov^dedge,  but  to  get  rid  of  moral  iniquity? 
If  citizens  and  politicians  wanted  to  do  right, 
would  not  many  political  problems  cease  to  vex 
us  ?  Bribery,  extravagance  in  the  use  of  public 
funds,  rake-offs  and  cheating  in  public  con- 
tracts, franchise-stealing,  are  among  the  worst 
of  our  political  troubles,  and  every  one  of  them 
has  its  real  center  in  the  corruption  in  human 
nature.  Society  is  not  menaced  by  these  evils 
because  men  cannot  discover  the  laws  of  muni- 
cipal government.  It  is  not  political  wisdom 
we  so  sorely  need,  but  righteousness.  As  Lin- 
coln Steffens  declares : 

You  can't  reform  a  city  by  reforming  part  of  it. 
You    can't    reform    a    city    alone.      You    can't    reform 


RELIGION    AND   SOCIAL    PROGRESS  75 

politics  alone.  And  as  for  corruption  and  the  under- 
standing thereof,  we  cannot  run  'round  and  'round  in 
municipal  rings  and  understand  ring  corruption ;  it 
isn't  a  ring  thing And  I  have  found  that  I  can- 
not confine  myself  to  politics  and  grasp  all  the  ramifica- 
tions of  political  corruption ;  it  isn't  political  corruption. 
It's  corruption. 

Would  that  we  might  cease  our  speculative 
treatment  of  the  real  political  issue  and  face 
the  truth.  Political  corruption  is  the  corrup- 
tion of  human  nature  —  the  wickedness  of 
man's  heart.  The  political  problem  is  a  reli- 
gious problem. 

How  forcibly  does  history  bear  out  these 
observations !  Social  distresses,  such  as  war, 
poverty,  ignorance,  tyranny,  and  domestic 
misery,  in  no  small  degree  have  been  due  to 
corrupt  rulers,  to  privileged  classes  that  gained 
their  power  by  unrighteous  means,  and  used  it 
recklessly  and  selfishly,  sacrificing  every  inter- 
est of  their  fellow-men  on  the  altar  of  greed  or 
ambition. 

It  is  often  difficult  to  understand  an  intri- 
cate political  or  economic  problem,  to  analyze 
complex  conditions,  and  to  seize  upon  the 
principle  to  be  followed.  But  a  much  harder 
task  is  that  of  socializing  the  individual,  indu- 
cing men  to  love  their  fellows  and  to  seek  their 


76    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

welfare.  Every  real  and  vital  improvement  in 
social  life  is  due,  not  to  the  coercion  of  laws  or 
the  force  of  arms,  but  to  the  progression  of 
moral  character. 

The  arts-and-crafts  movement,  still  in  its 
infancy,  is  based  on  the  idea  that  men  do  and 
must  express  what  they  are  in  their  work. 
They  can  lie  in  wood  and  stone  and  iron  quite 
as  well  as  in  words.  A  badly  constructed  build- 
ing tumbles-  into  ruins,  and  precious  lives  are 
lost.  Somebody  lied  and  cheated.  A  miserable 
character  has  expressed  itself  in  fraud  that 
resulted  in  a  waste  of  time,  money,  and  life. 
Our  houses  are  full  of  lies,  base  imitations, 
shiftless  work,  and  greed  for  gain,  in  the  shape 
of  useless  baubles,  shoddy  garments,  furniture 
that  quickly  falls  into  pieces,  fraudulent  decora- 
tions. 

The  remedy  for  these  evils  is  to  be  found 
in  a  nobler  and  broader  religious  life.  As 
William  L.  Price  has  said : 

Blasphemy  is  neglect.  Blasphemy  is  don't  care. 
The  workman's  bench  is  an  altar.  You  have  perhaps 
associated  reverence  and  blasphemy  with  your  attitude 
toward  some  abstract  or  distant  or  grotesque  or 
demoniacal  concept  of  God.  But  I  say  that  reverence 
and  blasphemy  may  with  more  ominous  menace  dictate 
your  attitude  toward  man.     I  can  see  God  in  the  honest 


RELIGION    AND    SOCIAL    PROGRESS  JJ 

joint  of  a  chair.    I  can  see  God  woven  in  tapestries  and 
beaten  in  brasses  and  bound  in  the  covers  of  books. 

What  is  required,  then,  to  produce  a  good 
architecture,  good  Hterature,  good  furniture, 
good  anything,  is  not  merely  technical  knowl- 
edge and  skill,  but  good  character.  We  express 
what  we  are  in  our  work.  We  cannot  hide  the 
truth.  Our  methods  of  trade  and  manufactur- 
ing, our  systems  of  politics  and  of  finance,  will 
be  honeycombed  with  corruption  if  we  our- 
selves are  corrupt.  Refine,  elevate,  purify  the 
soul,  and  the  effect  will  be  seen  in  every  depart- 
ment of  human  activity.  This  is  going  to  the 
root  of  the  matter.  This  kind  of  reform  is 
really  formation.  It  is  vital.  It  deals  with 
the  disease  itself  and  not  with  the  symptoms. 
In  the  knowledge  of  God,  in  the  passion  for 
honesty  and  justice,  in  the  love  of  one's  neigh- 
bor, will  be  found  those  dynamic  forces  which 
will  create  a  new  social  order. 

Viewing  this  question  from  the  other  side, 
because  activities  and  institutions  react  upon 
men  and  help  to  shape  character,  we  find  a  new 
and  high  standard  by  which  to  estimate  the 
value  of  industrial  and  political  methods,  and 
by  which  social  progress  can  be  measured. 
Churches,     schools,     industrial    combinations, 


78    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

labor  unions,  political  parties,  and  political 
habits  are  to  be  judged  by  their  effect  upon 
human  character.  Do  they  refine  or  degrade? 
Do  they  tend  to  infidelity  in  human  relations 
or  to  brotherhood,  to  avarice  or  to  generosity, 
to  inhumanity  or  to  sympathy?  When  the 
moral  character  suffers  under  any  form  of 
social  activity,  no  justification  can  be  advanced 
for  the  continued  existence  of  that  activity,  ex- 
cept on  changed  lines.  It  is  an  enemy  to  be 
slain  without  mercy. 

The  most  superficial  acquaintance  with 
modern  political  and  economic  literature,  and 
with  the  social  problems  of  our  time,  will 
satisfy  candid  minds  that  the  hopeful  feature 
is  the  demand  for  the  application  of  this  life- 
test  to  modern  government  and  industry.  The 
ethical  influence  of  political  methods  and  forms 
of  industrial  organization  is  a  primary  con- 
sideration with  thoughtful  and  patriotic  men. 
When  it  is  asked  whether  a  business  pays  or 
a  political  program  is  desirable,  more  and  more 
is  attention  directed  toward  the  ethical  stand- 
ard. It  is  not  enough  to  show  that  large 
dividends  will  result,  or  that  the  temporary 
victory  of  a  political  party  will  follow.  The 
question   is   fast  becoming  a   moral   one.     Is 


RELIGION    AND   SOCIAL    PROGRESS  79 

character  developed?  Is  human  Hfe  enriched? 
Wealth  is  viewed  in  terms  of  life.  Machines 
are  judged,  not  only  by  their  ability  to  produce 
material  goods,  but  by  their  effect  upon  the 
workers.  Political  and  industrial  programs 
are  tested  in  the  light  of  their  probable  effects 
upon  the  moral  ideals  and  moral  life  of  the 
nation.  There  is  an  increasing  insistence  upon 
the  necessity  of  employing  this  standard  as  the 
real  and  fundamental  criterion  of  social  prog- 
ress. Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world 
has  the  ethical  issue  been  so  emphatically,  per- 
sistently, and  clearly  presented  as  it  is  today. 
Never  were  so  many  men  seeking  to  subdue 
selfishness  by  the  development  of  the  altruistic 
sentiments.  Never  was  the  duty  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  society  so  nobly  conceived  and  so 
eagerly  obeyed  as  at  the  present  time. 

And,  further  —  a  fact  to  be  regarded  as 
practically  conclusive  of  the  position  we  have 
taken  —  never  before  has  there  been  such  gen- 
eral diffusion  of  happiness,  prosperity,  and 
knowledge.  More  people  share  in  the  benefits 
of  civilization  today  than  ever  before.  Social 
progress,  in  other  words,  has  gone  hand  in 
hand  with  the  moral  progress  of  the  race.  In- 
deed, social  progress  is  fundamentally  moral 


8o    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

progress.  As  the  higher  Hfe  of  man  has  been 
developed,  every  phase  of  man's  hfe  has  been 
elevated.  H^  is  healthier,  in  possession  of 
more  of  this  world's  goods,  richer  in  knowl- 
edge, on  the  whole  happier  than  ever  before. 
All  this  surely  indicates  the  path  to  further 
social  progress.  It  should  help  us  all  to  see 
that,  if  we  would  bind  factions,  classes,  and 
nations  together  in  a  nobler  brotherhood;  if 
we  would  abolish  special  privileges,  establish 
justice,  disseminate  mercy  and  loving-kindness, 
we  can  do  so  only  by  developing  the  spiritual 
life  of  man.  The  bonds  that  bind  us  and  make 
us  one  are  spiritual  bonds. 

The  victory  over  hatred  and  envy  which 
keep  men  apart,  and  over  the  greed  that  causes 
men  to  trespass  on  human  rights  and  disregard 
human  obligations,  can  be  achieved  only  by 
fostering  love  of  God  and  of  man  in  the  human 
heart ;  that  love  which  is  not  a  vague  sentiment 
or  an  empty  feeling ;  the  love  of  God  who  gave 
his  best  to  save  the  world;  the  self-sacrificing 
love  that  seeks  the  welfare  of  the  beloved ;  that 
love  for  man  which  found  its  highest  expres- 
sion in  Christ  who  went  about  doing  good,  who 
never  placed  the  things  of  this  world  alxDve  the 
value  of  the  soul,  who  taught  us  that  "  a  man's 


RELIGION    AND   SOCIAL    PROGRESS  bl 

life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth." 

In  claiming  so  much  for  religion  we  do  not 
forget  the  influences  of  scientific  investigations 
and  discoveries,  mechanical  inventions,  and 
intellectual  acquirements.  Newspapers,  libra- 
ries, schools,  and  the  increasing  comforts  of 
life,  all  have  their  part  in  the  world's  progress. 
Industrial  combinations  and  organized  labor 
profoundly  modify  the  conditions  under  which 
the  work  of  the  world  is  carried  on,  and  more 
or  less  directly  facilitate  social  betterment. 
But  all  these  achievements  have  to  be  used  in 
the  right  way,  and  the  use  we  make  of  them 
largely  determines  their  real  value.  A  news- 
paper, for  example,  may  be  a  curse  or  a  blessing 
to  society.  Its  effect  is  determined  by  the 
character  of  its  moral  influence.  If  it  is  con- 
ducted solely  as  a  business  enterprise,  without 
regard  to  moral  considerations;  if  its  pro- 
prietors use  its  columns  to  deceive  people  with 
lying  advertisements ;  if  they  accept  bribes  and 
support  corrupt  politicians,  the  influence  of 
that  newspaper  will  be  hostile  to  social  prog- 
ress.   - 

Printing-presses,  type-setting  machines, 
rapid  transportation,  and  swift  communication 


82    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

are  not  in  themselves  a  blessing.  They  are  means 
to  an  end.  What  do  we  say  in  our  newspapers  ? 
What  messages  flash  across  the  wires?  What 
goes  on  in  our  skyscrapers  and  beautiful  build- 
ings? What  use  do  we  make  of  the  comforts 
and  luxuries  bestowed  upon  us  by  science? 
The  answer  to  these  questions  fixes  the  real 
value  of  inventions.  So  no  amount  of  ma- 
terial progress  can  render  religious  considera- 
tions irrelevant.  Of  itself  no  mechanical 
achievement  will  ultimately  promote  social 
progress. 

Politics  and  religion  are  not  two  distinct 
things.  Political  practices  and  institutions  may 
be  tested  by  ethical  standards,  because  they  are 
expressions  of  the  moral  life  of  a  people.  We 
have  just  as  good  politics  as  we  deserve,  be- 
cause our  political  condition  is  just  what  we 
are  —  no  better,  no  worse. 

Political  deeds  spring  out  of  the  common 
life  and  then  react  upon  public  morals.  This 
suggests  the  folly  of  trying  to  reform  politics 
without  changing  the  moral  life  of  the  people, 
or  of  attempting  to  improve  the  moral  life, 
leaving  the  political  habits  and  institutions  un- 
touched. They  are  both  parts  of  one  process, 
and  we  must  work  at  both  ends  of  the  problem. 


RELIGION    AND    SOCIAL    PROGRESS  83 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  individual  moral- 
ity, if  by  that  term  is  meant  a  private  moraHty 
that  has  no  relationship  in  any  sense  with  social 
morality.  The  individual  is  constantly  under 
the  influence  of  social  standards  of  right  and 
wrong. 

The  boy  among  us  becomes  familiar  with 
all  forms  of  political  corruption.  He  breathes 
a  tainted  atmosphere.  He  reads  and  hears  of 
all  sorts  of  political  frauds,  bribery,  ballot-box 
stuffing,  and  franchise-stealing.  While  he 
hears  of  protests  from  the  few,  he  soon  learns 
that  all  of  us,  represented  by  the  state,  really 
do  not  care.  We  do  little  or  nothing.  We  do 
not  enforce  the  law  impartially.  We  catch  and 
punish  the  small  offenders,  and  let  the  big  ones 
go.  The  youth  soon  learns  of  flagrant  viola- 
tions of  the  laws  against  gambling  and  dis- 
orderly houses,  excise  regulations,  and  other 
ordinances  dealing  with  institutionalized  vice. 
He  notes  the  public  indifference,  the  refusal  of 
of^cials  to  do  their  duty.  All  this  knowledge, 
this  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  real 
thoughts,  feelings,  and  standards  of  the  people, 
slowly  shapes  his  life.  He  accepts  prevailing 
customs  and  ideals  as  his  own  ends  in  life.  He 
soon  feels  about  all  these  things  the  way  every- 


84    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

body  else  feels.  And  if  he  does  not  become 
either  a  disreputable  or  a  respectable  rascal,  he 
joins  that  large  class  of  easy-going,  indifferent, 
unpatriotic  ''  good  citizens." 

Much  of  the  political  corruption  of  our 
time  and  the  general  character  of  our  public 
morality  are  attributable  to  two  leading  features 
of  our  social  life;  first,  the  love  of  money,  with 
all  its  kindred  passions  unrestrained  by  moral 
ideals;  secondly,  the  double  standard  of  ethics 
which  is  almost  universally  employed  in  polit- 
ical and  business  circles.  Perhaps  the  latter  ac- 
counts in  no  slight  degree  for  the  uncontrolled 
power  of  the  love  of  money.  If  this  dual 
standard  could  be  destroyed,  and  the  moral  life 
unified,  it  would  mean  more  for  our  country 
than  could  be  accomplished  by  any  other  re- 
form. 

The  average  man,  no  matter  how  active  in 
the  church  he  may  be,  is  one  thing  in  his  home 
and  private  life,  and  quite  another  being  in  his 
political  and  commercial  life.  He  has  a  differ- 
ent code  of  honor,  another  standard  for  con- 
duct, in  his  more  public  life  than  that  which  he 
respects  in  domestic,  religious,  and  club  circles. 
The  political  jobber,  the  trickster  and  exploiter 
in    business,    the    oppressive    monopolist    and 


RELIGION    AND   SOCIAL    PROGRESS  85 

franchise-stealer,  is  often  a  respected  and 
cherished  friend,  a  devoted  husband,  a  zealous 
churchman,  and  a  benevolent  philanthropist. 

This  state  of  things  cannot  last  long.  It  is 
a  temporary  stage  in  the  evolution  of  our  social 
morality.  Either  the  political  or  commercial 
trickster  and  corruptionist  must  cease  to  respect 
a  high  code  of  morals  in  his  private  life,  or  he 
must  alter  his  public  habits.  He  cannot  long 
remain  one  kind  of  a  man  in  one  sphere  of  his 
activities,  and  another  sort  in  the  rest  of  his 
life. 

There  are  not  wanting  significant  signs  that 
these  changes  are  already  taking  place.  Some 
are  turning  toward  the  right  in  public  as  well 
as  in  private  life,  and  others  are  becoming  reli- 
giously and  domestically  what  they  are  in 
politics  and  business. 

Here,  then,  is  field  for  noble  and  needed 
work.  The  press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  schools 
may  join  hands  in  a  campaign  of  education 
which  shall  have  for  its  end  the  unification  of 
our  moral  life,  the  breaking  down  of  the  dual 
standard,  the  removal  of  the  barrier  between 
the  sacred  and  the  secular. 

Such  a  reform  would  penetrate  to  the  root 
of  political  evils.    It  would  be  vital,  not  super- 


86    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

ficial.     Our  only  salvation  lies  that  way.     All^ 
other  reforms  are  merely  contributary   influ- 
ences toward  this  crying  need  of  our  American 
life. 

The  existence  of  perils  and  evils  does  not 
prove  our  modern  social  life  to  be  inferior  to 
that  of  other  times ;  for  every  age  has  had  its 
characteristic  evils.  Ancient  wrongs  have  been 
righted.  True  culture  and  refinement  have 
been  widely  promoted.  There  is  larger  free- 
dom and  opportunity  today  than  ever  before. 
Pessimism  is  only  apparently  justified.  The  out- 
look is  promising.  The  recognition  of  existing 
evils,  the  very  discontent  with  conditions  once 
endured  in  silence  and  ignorance,  the  conscious- 
ness of  those  higher  ideals  by  which  we  indict 
wrongdoers,  and  in  the  light  of  which  we  battle 
for  righteousness,  are  all  signs  of  progress,  the 
grounds  of  faith,  "  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for  "  in  the  days  to  come. 


CHAPTER   VI 
RELIGION  AND  CHRIST 

Religion  is  often  regarded  as  only  a  col- 
lection of  doctrines,  ceremonies,  and  rituals; 
just  as  science  is  considered  as  a  system  of 
knowledge.  But  we  cannot  leave  personality 
out  of  account  in  any  of  the  religions,  sciences, 
or  arts.  Science  has  been  made  what  it  is  by 
great  thinkers.  Scientific  knowledge  is  the 
knowledge  possessed  by  those  who  have  in- 
telligently studied  some  phase  of  the  universe. 
Politics,  literature,  and  art  have  been  promoted 
chiefly  by  the  masters,  the  men  of  creative 
genius  and  magnificent  powers. 

So  while  religion  is  the  experience  of  all 
men  in  its  relation  to  God,  the  personality  of  a 
few  remarkable  men  has  exercised  a  profound 
and  lasting  influence  upon  the  religious  life  of 
mankind.  This  is  an  interesting  fact,  because  it 
furnishes  another  illustration  of  the  naturalness 
of  religion.  It  shows  that  religion  is  a  phase 
of  human  experience,  and  that  its  origin  and 
growth  have  been  determined  by  those  uni- 
versal laws  which  have  controlled  the  progress 
87 


88    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

of  man  in  all  other  spheres  of  thought  and 
activity. 

When  regarded  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
life  of  Jesus  Christ  is  seen  in  its  true  relation- 
ship to  the  religions  life  of  the  world.  Prin- 
cipal A.  M.  Fairbairn,  in  The  Philosophy  of 
the  Christian  Religion,  states  this  fact  with 
great  force  thus : 

If  then  man,  by  his  moral  being,  touches  the  skirts 
of  God,  and  God  in  enforcing  his  law  is  ever,  by  means 
of  great  persons,  shaping  the  life  of  man  to  its  divine 
issues,  what  could  be  more  consonant,  alike  with  man's 
nature  and  God's  method  of  forming  or  re-forming  it, 
than  that  he  should  send  a  supreme  Personality  as  the 
vehicle  of  highest  good  to  the  race? 

Remembering  that  the  life  of  God  is  in  the 
life  or  soul  of  man,  and  that  religion  exists 
because  man,  by  the  constitution  of  his  being, 
holds  relationships  with  God,  and  is  ever  striv- 
ing to  become  more  and  more  conscious  of 
God,  it  is  very  evident  that  there  is  a  divine 
and  a  human  side  to  religion.  That  is  to  say, 
God  reveals,  unfolds,  manifests  himself;  man 
discovers  and  accepts  the  truth  thus  inherent  in 
nature  and  in  his  soul,  and  enters  into  fellow- 
ship with  the  Divine  Being. 

Christ  is,  therefore,  on  the  divine  side  an 
expression  of  God,  who  is  seeking  to  enlighten 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  89 

man  and  to  bring  his  nature  into  harmony  with 
his  own,  God  speaks  to  the  race  through 
Christ.  He  shows  man  what  he  is,  what  his 
feehngs  toward  man  are,  what  his  divine  ideal 
of  human  nature  is,  so  that  man  may  have  some 
clearly  defined  conception  of  what  the  moral 
ideal  is  like,  because  the  ultimate  moral  ideal 
is  God.  Glimpses  of  this  ideal  man  has  always 
had :  God,  revealing  himself  in  nature,  per- 
sonal experience,  and  history  has  taught  him 
much  about  it.  But  its  clearest  visible  form  is 
in  the  character  of  Christ,  attracting  all  lofty 
aspirations  toward  itself,  and  awakening  within 
us  an  ardent  desire  tO'  realize  this  ideal  in  our- 
selves. That  is  the  divine  side  —  God  seeking 
man,  revealing  himself. 

On  the  human  side  man  seeks  God,  Christ, 
as  a  gloriously  endowed  h'uman  soul,  struggles 
with  temptation,  fights  sin  in  all  its  subtle 
forms.  As  a  child  he  obeys  his  parents ;  as  a 
man  he  earns  his  living  by  hard,  honest  work. 
He  grows  in  grace  and  in  wisdom  amid  trials 
and  temptations.  He  hungers  and  thirsts  after 
true  righteousness.  He  is  intensely  human.  He 
weeps  and  prays.  He  mourns  for  the  dead 
and  grieves  for  faithless  friends.  He  pities  the 
multitude  enslaved  by  tradition  and  groping 


90    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

blindly  after  God.  Hypocrisy  and  cant  stir  his 
soul  into  indignant  protests.  He  breaks  loose 
from  the  traditions  of  centuries,  and  marks  out 
for  himself  and  the  world  a  new  path  to  truth. 
He  searches  for  principles  lying  back  of  forms 
and  customs.  He  loves  men  with  unequaled 
devotion  —  all  men,  good  and  bad.  He  is  sin- 
cere to  the  core  of  his  being.  He  speaks  simply 
and  naturally,  without  cant  or  hesitation.  In 
short,  he  is  a  brave,  pure,  true,  loving  man  — 
the  ideal  religious  man.  The  man  who  knows 
God,  loves  God  and  obeys  God. 

Christ's  relationship  to  religion  in  general 
is,  then,  that  he  is,  on  one  hand,  the  most 
beautiful  expression  of  the  life  of  God  in  the 
soul  of  man,  and,  on  the  other,  the  noblest  ex- 
ample of  what  a  truly  religious  man  ought  to 
be.  So  he  shows  us  m  himself  what  the  divine 
nature  is  like,  and  what  man  is  at  his  best. 

Now  let  us  see  how  this  view  of  Jesus  Christ 
fits  the  religious  needs  of  human  nature,  and 
then  how  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  are 
adapted  to  the  advanced  experience  of  modern 
times. 

Professor  William  James  has  said : 

We  become  conscious  of  what  we  ourselves  are  by 
imitating  others;  the  consciousness  of  what  others  are 
precedes;    the  sense  of  self  grows  by  the  sense  of  pat- 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  9I 

tern Imitation   shades   imperceptibly  into   emula- 
tion  Emulation    is    the    very    nerve    of    human 

society. 

How  beautifully  does  the  mission  of  Jesus 
Christ  exemplify  this  law  of  life  as  laid  down 
by  a  modern  thinker!  Christ  came  that  men 
might  have  a  true  consciousness  of  themselves 
and  of  the  God  whose  life  dwells  in  them.  To 
be  like  Christ  should  be  the  goal  of  every  per- 
son. We  become  conscious  of  ourselves,  we 
awake  to  a  sense  of  what  we  really  are,  by 
emulating  Christ.  We  do  this  by  first  becom- 
ing conscious  of  what  he  is.  Then  we  try  to 
think  his  thoughts,  t«'  have  his  feelings,  and  to 
will  to  do  what  he  willed  to  do.  This  process 
is  really  a  development  of  the  life  of  God  in  our 
souls.  It  is  carrying  upward  and  onward  what 
good  there  is  in  us.  No  new  faculty  is  added 
to  our  personality.  Christ  had  what  we  have 
—  mind,  affections,  will.  But  all  these  were 
brought  into  harmony  with  the  mind,  heart, 
and  will  of  God.  This  is  the  religious  need  of 
all  men.  In  every  age  and  clime  men  have 
been  stumbling  and  groping,  more  or  less  con- 
sciously, toward  that  goal.  Christ  reached  the 
summit ;  and  we  mark  the  way  he  climbed,  and 
follow  in  his  footsteps.  That  is  Christianity. 
To  be  something  other  than  a  Christian  is  to 


92    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

wander  around  in  the  wilderness  following 
other  guides ;  or  to  lie  down  in  despair  and  let 
come  what  will;  or  to  turn  the  other  way  and 
plunge  headlong  into  the  depths,  without  any 
care  as  to  what  becomes  of  us. 

Would  we  realize  high  ideals,  find  our- 
selves, think  and  love  and  act  as  becomes  the 
children  of  God,  would  we  find  rest  for  our 
souls  in  sweet  fellowship  with  the  Eternal  Life 
of  the  universe,  let  us  emulate  Christ.  This 
emulation  is  our  salvation.  This  emulation  is 
the  very  nerve  of  society  —  the  hope  of  the 
world. 

Secondly,  we  were  to  "inquire  how  the  life 
and  teaching  of  Jesus  are  adapted  to  modern 
conditions.  Every  step  forward  in  human  ex- 
perience is  accompanied  by  changes  in  religion. 
Religion  develops  like  every  other  part  of 
human  experience.  The  essence  or  funda- 
mental elements  of  religion  may  remain  in  all 
forms  of  the  religious  life,  but  the  expressions 
of  religion  change,  because  human  experience 
is  constantly  broadening.  New  ideas  enter 
into  the  religious  life  and  alter  that  life. 

What  will  happen  in  the  future  is  a  purely 
speculative  question  that  need  not  concern  us. 
Is  Christ  our  true  guide  now?    This  is  a  prac- 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  93 

tical  and  vital  issue.  Many  important  changes 
have  taken  place  in  the  theological  views  of 
Christ  and  the  Bible  and  Christian  doctrines. 
We  are  now  in  the  midst  of  what  is  called  a 
"reconstruction  of  theology."  Is  it  possible 
that  these  changes  indicate  an  abandonment  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  our  religious  guide;  our  hope 
and  salvation  ? 

Let  us,  therefore,  consider  some  features  of 
modern  life  and  thought  in  their  bearing  upon 
a  few  of  the  essential  elements  in  the  character 
and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 

First,  this  is  a  scientific  age.  Men  are  in 
search  of  reality.  Knowledge  is  prized  as 
never  before  —  exact  knowledge,  systematized 
knowledge,  that  conforms  to  the  facts  of  the 
universe.  No  subject  is  thought  too  sacred  to 
be  explored.  The  Bible  has  been  thrown  into 
the  crucible  of  investigation  and  fearlessly 
criticised.  Tradition  is  no  longer  respected. 
Every  declaration  and  experience  of  the  past 
which  history  records  is  subjected  to  the  most 
rigorous  scrutiny.  The  terrors  of  hell  and  the 
threats  of  the  priesthood  are  losing  their  power 
to  exact  an  unwilling  conformity  to  established 
precedents.  Freedom  from  bondage  to  error 
and  to  superstition  is  the  eagerly  pursued  goal. 


94    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

The  spirit  of  Jesus  was  in  perfect  harmony 
with  this  spirit  of  our  times.  He  defined  eter- 
nal Hfe  to  be  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
himself.  Thus  he  threw  open  the  doors  of  the 
universe  to  the  seeker  after  reality.  We  are 
encouraged  to  seek  God  and  to  know  him.  "  Ye 
shall  know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall  make 
you  free."  Here  we  have  the  secret  of  all  true 
freedom  boldly  laid  down.  No  scientist  could 
say  more.  Christ  was  a  fearless  thinker. 
Whether  the  scientist  agrees  with  all  of  Christ's 
conclusions  or  not,  he  must  admit  that  Jesus 
was  no  slave  to  traditions.  He  broke  through 
the  crust  of  tradition,  the  teachings  of  men,  in 
search  of  universal  principles.  He  had  no  fear 
of  church  or  state.  He  taught  not  as  the 
scribes.  His  whole  life  is  a  noble  exhibition  of 
the  truly  scientific  spirit,  although  the  facts 
with  which  he  dealt  were  not,  for  the  most 
part,  those  of  physical,  but  of  spiritual,  nature. 
He  perished  as  a  martyr  for  free  speech  and 
untrammeled  inquiry. 

This  is  an  individualistic  age.  Socialism, 
in  all  its  forms,  is  advocated  because  it  is 
thought  to  be  in  the  interests  of  a  larger  life  for 
the  individual.  Rights  and  liberties  are 
claimed  for  the  individual,  and  are  no  longer 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  95 

regarded  as  the  peculiar  possession  of  privi- 
leged classes.  Civilization  is  estimated  by  what 
it  does  for  man.  Philanthropic  societies,  mis- 
sionary enterprises,  laws,  and  institutions  are 
justified  or  condemned  on  the  ground  of  their 
value  in  broadening  the  scope  of  man's  life. 
Momentous  changes  are  being  wrought  in  the 
industrial  world  by  lofty  conceptions  of  the 
worth  of  the  individual. 

No  religious  teacher  equals  Jesus  in  the 
estimate  he  placed  on  the  value  of  the  indi- 
vidual, and  in  the  power  to  impress  these  ideas 
upon  the  world.  He  came,  not  to  extinguish 
individual  desire,  the  goal  of  Buddhism,  but  to 
increase  desire,  to  enrich  and  to  exalt  the  indi- 
vidual life.  "What  shall  a  man  give  in  ex- 
change for  himself?"  he  exclaimed.  "What 
shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  himself?"  "A  man's  life  consisteth 
not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he 
possesseth."  Such  was  Christ's  idea  of  the 
worth  of  personality  and  of  the  relation  be- 
tween things  —  external  possessions  —  and  the 
soul.  Christ's  estimate  of  the  individual  is  one 
of  the  great  evolutionary  forces  of  our  time. 
It  will  help  to  save  society.  The  shepherd 
leaves  the  ninety  and  nine  to  seek  one  lost 


96    PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

sheep.  He  came  to  seek  the  lost,  the  friendless, 
and  the  helpless.  They  were  to  him  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Heavenly  Father,  irrespective  of 
their  character,  possessions,  or  social  standing. 

But  this  is  also  a  socialistic  age  —  a  term 
with  many  meanings.  Let  it  stand  here  for  the 
consciousness  that  we  are  members  one  of  an- 
other; that  the  individual  only  truly  lives  when 
he  lives  in  society;  that  brotherhood  is  to  be 
expressed  in  every  relationship  of  life,  be  it 
political,  industrial,  or  religious.  The  word 
"  social "  is  on  everybody's  tongue.  Social 
topics  are  the  popular  themes  of  scientific 
treatises,  poems,  novels,  essays.  Enthusiasm 
for  humanity  is  the  master-passion  of  the  age. 
Social  service  or  work  for  society,  the  duty  of 
man  to  man,  the  practical  expression  of  love 
for  one's  neighbor,  is  the  widely  inculcated 
doctrine  of  reformers,  preachers,  artists,  liter- 
ary men,  and  statesmen. 

Has  Jesus  a  message  for  a  time  like  ours? 
Why,  he  is  the  great  exponent  of  this  master- 
passion.  His  teachings  and  his  life  constitute 
the  very  essence  of  the  inspiration  for  social 
service.  Religion  to  him  is  love  to  God  and  to 
man.  We  cannot  love  God  without  loving 
man.    H  we  love  and  serve  our  fellow-men,  we 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  97 

shall  then  truly  love  and  serve  God,  whether 
we  really  know  it  or  not.  In  a  parable  on  the 
last  judgment  he  represents  those  who  had  fed 
the  hungry  and  clothed  the  naked,  on  whom  he 
was  to  bestow  blessings,  as  saying :  "  Lord, 
when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered,  and  fed  thee? 
or  athirst,  and  gave  thee  drink?"  "And  the 
King  made  answer  and  said  unto  them,  Verily 
I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one 
of  these  my  brethren,  even  these  least,  ye  did  it 
unto  me." 

Christ's  fundamental  principle  of  life  for 
himself  and  for  all  men  is  "  not  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister."  The  sin  of  the  rich  man 
in  the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus  was  not 
that  he  was  rich  or  licentious  or  a  drunkard, 
but  that  he  was  selfish  and  neglected  the  sick 
and  needy  at  his  door.  The  law  of  social  ser- 
vice is  a  cardinal  doctrine  in  Christ's  religion. 
The  love  of  God  is  to  find  its  truest  and  noblest 
expression,  not  in  prayers  and  psalms  and  cere- 
monies, but  in  self-denying  labors  for  others. 
Self-realization,  the  watchword  of  modern  edu- 
cation and  modern  ethics,  means  to  live  for 
others.  "He  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake 
shall  find  it." 

We  hear  much  today  about  ethical  relation- 


98   PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

ships,  by  which  is  meant  that  the  bonds  which 
bind  men  are  not  merely  poHtical  and  indus- 
trial, but  ethical,  spiritual.  The  employer  is 
more  than  employer  to  his  workmen ;  he  is  a 
brother.  All  men  are  brothers.  Society  is 
made  up  of  individuals  who  should  live  for 
their  brothers.  "  Each  for  all  and  all  for 
each  "  should  be  the  fundamental  principle  of 
social  life.  Where  will  one  find  these  truths 
more  clearly  taught  than  in  the  words  of  Jesus  ? 
To  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  the 
earth  was  his  mission  —  a  kingdom;  not  a  col- 
lection of  individuals,  but  an  organized  society. 
Primarily  the  message  of  Jesus  was  to  the  indi- 
vidual, and  any  attempt  to  reform  society  or  to 
promote  human  welfare  that  ignores  the  indi- 
vidual will  fail.  But  its  message  was  to  the 
individual  in  his  social  relations,  as  a  member 
of  the  great  family  of  God.  How  else  can  men 
come  to  regard  one  another  as  brothers,  unless 
they  see  the  divine  image  in  the  individual,  and 
become  conscious  of  the  underlying  unity  of 
humanity  in  the  light  of  Christ's  teachings? 

It  is  therefore  in  the  redemption  of  the 
individual,  in  all  his  relations  with  his  fellow- 
men,  that  Jesus  based  his  hopes  for  mankind. 
No  note  of  his  teaching  is  out  of  harmony  with 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  99 

the  highest  aspirations  of  this  age  of  Hberty, 
fraternity,  and  equaHty.  No  one  shares  in  his 
authority.  His  spiritual  leadership  is  not 
threatened  in  the  least  by  the  progress  of 
knowledge  and  the  evolution  of  society.  Every 
step  forward  brings  us  nearer  to  his  thought, 
and  every  development  of  consciousness  reveals 
in  a  stronger,  clearer  light  the  power  of  his 
life  over  humanity.  As  Francis  G.  Peabody 
says: 

Among  the  conflicting  activities  of  the  present  time 
his  power  is  not  that  of  one  more  activity  among  the 
rest,  but  that  of  wisdom,  personality,  ideaHsm.  Into  the 
midst  of  the  discordant  efforts  of  men  he  comes  as  one 
having  authority;  the  self-assertion  of  each  instrument 
of  social  service  is  hushed  as  he  gives  his  sign ;  and  in 
the  surrender  of  each  life  to  him  it  finds  its  place  in  the 
symphony  of  all. 

The  last  characteristic  feature  of  modern 
times  to  be  considered  fittingly  follows  those 
mentioned.  This  is  what  is  called  a  practical 
age.  The  long-standing  quarrel  between  the 
practical  and  the  ideal  is  settled  by  joining  the 
two  together  in  what  is  called  "  practical  ideal- 
ism." Whatever  we  think  or  do,  we  must  be 
practical,  it  is  said.  So,  since  we  must  have 
theories  and  ideals,  let  them  be  practical.  This 
is  simply  one  of  the  phases  of  the  passion  for 


lOO  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

reality.  Men  are  tired  of  theories  that  cannot 
be  tested  except  in  the  realm  of  speculation. 
Tliey  want  no  ideals  that  cannot  be  pursued 
with  some  hope  of  reaching  them,  or  at  least  of 
making  progress  toward  them.  To  logical 
demonstration  must  be  added  the  proof  of  ex- 
perience. The  real  test  of  truth  is  life.  All 
this  has  profoundly  affected  theology,  and  the 
changes  it  has  wrought  in  the  views  of  religion 
have  greatly  alarmed  many  good  people.  It 
has  resulted  in  a  new  classification  of  doctrines 
into  those  which  can  be  tested  in  any  age  by 
anybody,  and  those  which  can  be  tested  only  by 
philosophy  or  historical  criticism.  Those  doc- 
trines are  regarded  as  the  most  essential  which 
can  be  verified  in  human  experience.  The  rest 
may  or  may  not  be  true;  but,  in  any  case,  we 
can  never  be  quite  so  sure  of  them  as  we  can  of 
those  which  deal  most  vitally  with  character 
and  conduct.  It  would  carry  us  too  far  afield 
to  enter  into  this  subject  in  detail.  The  fact 
itself  is  all  that  is  important  for  our  purposes. 
Does  Christ  meet  the  issue?  Will  he  consent 
to  have  his  teaching  tested  by  life?  Does  he 
give  us  a  series  of  abstract  theories  and  specu- 
lative propositions  which  we  must  accept,  with- 
out any  other  evidence  than  his  word;   or  can 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  1 01 

we  verify  his  teaching  for  ourselves  in  our 
daily  experience?  Does  he  give  us  speculation 
or  experience  ? 

Now,  undoubtedly  Christ  said  many  things 
hard  to  understand.  His  person  and  place  in 
history,  and  his  relationship  to  God  and  to 
man,  give  rise  to  many  problems  of  great  sig- 
nificance, and  difficult  of  solution.  But  the  vital 
question  which  concerns  every  man,  educated 
or  uneducated,  is  this :  Can  those  elements  of 
Christ's  life  and  teaching  which  are  really 
essential  to  human  welfare  be  tested  in  prac- 
tical experience? 

Christ  meets  that  issue  with  a  confidence 
inspiring  confidence,  with  transparent  sincerity 
and  admirable  frankness.  He,  at  least,  is  not 
afraid  to  have  his  commands  implicitly  obeyed, 
whatever  fears  his  disciples  may  entertain.  He 
says  :  "  My  teaching  is  not  mine,  but  His  that 
sent  me.  If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he 
shall  know  of  the  teaching,  whether  it  be  of 
God,  or  whether  I  speak  from  myself."  This 
saying  grips  the  whole  man  —  mind,  heart,  and 
will.  Surrender  self  to  Christ.  Obey  him,  and 
we  shall  find  ourselves  in  harmony  with  God. 
Many  a  theological  doctrine  has  been  a  hin- 
drance instead  of  an  aid  to  the  religious  life.    It 


I02  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

has  allured  men  in  search  of  peace  and  truth 
into  speculative  realms,  and  obscured  the  living 
Christ  who  can  and  will  become  our  spiritual 
friend  and  guide.  Emulate  Christ,  and  you 
will  be  convinced  that  his  way  to  live  is  the 
only  true  way.  "If  we  can  be  our  complete 
selves  without  him,"  says  Professor  Coe,  "no 
conceivable  chain  of  logical  reasoning  can  ever 
bind  his  authority  upon  us."  The  Christ  of 
personal  experience  is  the  all-sufficient  author- 
ity, the  test  of  Christian  truth,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Christian  life. 

To  emulate  Christ  means  more  than  to 
imitate  his  deeds.  It  is  not  in  the  mere  per- 
formance of  acts  similar  to  those  of  Christ 
that  one  finds  peace  and  gains  power  over  self. 
Nor  is  the  end  reached  merely  by  believing  that 
what  Christ  said  is  true.  His  words  and  deeds 
were  but  the  expression  of  his  inner  life,  his 
attitude  toward  God.  It  is  that  life  we  need, 
"  that  life  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant."  True 
faith  is  the  appropriation  of  Christ's  spirit  so 
that  within  each  soul  the  inner  life  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  reproduced.  The  whole  personality 
enters  into  fellowship  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus. 
In  the  consciousness  of  what  he  is  we  become 
conscious  of  our  real  selves,  and  of  the  rela- 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  IO3 

tions  between  ourselves,  God,  and  other  selves. 
Thus  we  share  in  the  calmness,  the  peace,  the 
joy,  the  love  of  Christ.  We  have  his  conscious- 
ness of  the  Divine  Presence.  It  is  our  delight 
to  do  the  Father's  will.  We  have  Christ's  con- 
sciousness of  our  brother's  nature,  and,  like 
Christ,  we  live  to  promote  his  welfare.  The 
walls  between  the  sacred  and  the  secular  are 
broken  down.  Religion  becomes  a  thing  of 
everyday  life.  In  every  duty  of  life  we  dis- 
cover a  new  meaning  and  a  rich  significance. 
Daily  toil  becomes  sacred.  The  workbench 
becomes  the  altar.  Love  for  Christ  is  ex- 
pressed in  honest  work,  uplifting  art,  clean 
politics,  and  ennobling  literature.  Day  by  day, 
in  all  the  affairs  of  practical  life,  we  test  the 
life  and  the  teachings  of  the  Master,  and  in  no 
other  way. 

"  Poor  sad  humanity 

Through    all    the    dust    and    heat 

Turns    back    with    bleeding    feet 

By  the  weary  round  it  came, 

Upon  the  simple  thought, 

By  the  great  Master  taught, 

And   that   remaineth   still, 

Not  he  that  repeateth  the  name, 

But  he  that  doeth  the  will." 

This  view  of  the  relation  between  religion 


104  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

and  Christ  will  assist  the  general  reader  to 
understand  the  nature  of  final  authority  in 
religion.  Since  people  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  refuse  to  believe  anything  without 
evidence  there  is  naturally  a  widespread  inter- 
est in  the  subject  of  authority.  Blind  faith  in 
the  teachings  of  the  church  or  of  the  Bible  is 
felt  to  be  unworthy  of  intelligent  people.  The 
simple  declaration  of  others  does  not  satisfy 
many  honest  inquiring  minds.  They  want  to 
prove  things  for  themselves.  The  conviction 
grows  that  the  real  authority  in  religion  is  the 
authority  of  personal  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ, 
through  which  truth  is  revealed.  As  Auguste 
Sabatier  declares : 

In  the  last  analysis,  and  to  go  down  to  the  very  root 
of  the  Christian  religion,  to  be  a  Christian  is  not  to 
acquire  a  notion  of  God,  or  even  an  abstract  doctrine  of 
his  paternal  love ;  it  is  to  live  over,  within  ourselves, 
the  inner  spiritual  life  of  Christ,  and  by  the  union  of 
our  heart  with  his  to  feel  in  ourselves  the  presence  of  a 
Father  and  the  reality  of  our  filial  relation  to  him,  just 
as  Christ  felt  in  himself  the  Father's  presence  and  his 
filial   relation   to  him. 

This  is  not  equivalent  to  saying  that  the  reli- 
gious experience  recorded  in  the  Bible  and 
expressed  in  the  church  is  in  no  sense  an  ai>- 
thority  for  us ;   but  it  shows  us  that  we  never 


RELIGION    AND    CHRIST  IO5 

can  stand  on  solid  ground  until  we  have  experi- 
enced personally  the  reality  of  fellowship  with 
God.     Life  itself  is  our  greatest  teacher. 

The  interior  of  a  beautiful  cathedral  may 
be  described  to  us.  We  may  believe  the  testi- 
mony of  others  respecting  its  architectural 
glories.  But  what  knowledge  acquired  by  ver- 
bal reports  can  equal  the  knowledge  born  of  a 
visit  to  the  cathedral  itself?  Standing  within 
its  walls,  we  see  for  ourselves,  and  feel  what 
we  never  otherwise  could  feel,  no  matter  how 
much  faith  we  placed  in  the  authoritative  state- 
ments made  by  others. 

No  man  ever  has  reached,  or  ever  can  reach, 
satisfactory  conclusions  respecting  Christ  by 
purely  intellectual  processes.  It  is  waste  of 
time  to  discuss  Christ  unless  we  are  willing  to 
seek  knowledge  of  him  in  the  only  way  by 
which  it  can  finally  be  obtained  —  the  personal 
effort  to  realize  the  Christ  ideal. 

"We  must  enter  into  life,"  says  Henry  Van 
Dyke,  "by  giving  ourselves  to  the  personal 
Christ  who  unveils  the  love  of  the  Father  in  a 
Human  Life,  and  calls  us  with  Divine  authority 
to  submit  our  Liberty  to  God's  sovereignty  in 
blessed  immortal  service  to  our  fellow-men  for 
Christ's  sake." 


I06  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

This  is  the  real  message  of  Christianity  to 
mankind.  The  universal  religious  life  reaches 
its  supreme  expression  in  human  lives  trans- 
figured by  this  self-surrender  to  Christ.  The 
Bible,  the  Christian  church,  and  all  the  forms 
and  ceremonies  of  the  Christian  religion  are 
simply  means  to  an  end  and  that  end  is  — 
Christlikeness. 


CHAPTER   VII 

RELIGION  AND  THE  BIBLE 

Confused  by  conflicting  authorities  and  the 
widespread  agitation  over  the  results  of  modern 
biblical  criticism  multitudes  have  lost  their 
bearings.  This  is  inevitable  and  in  no  wise 
proves  that  scientific  research  and  free  discus- 
sion should  be  repressed.  The  Reformation, 
although  a  great  blessing  to  the  world,  was 
accompanied  by  many  doubts,  heart-aches,  and 
commotions. 

Peace  of  mind,  secured  by  ignorance  of 
truth  and  unreasoning  conservatism  is  by  no 
means  desirable.  The  beauty  and  fruitfulness 
of  the  earth  were  produced  by  centuries  of 
agitation.  Life  and  progress  are  based  upon 
struggle  and  change.  There  is  not  the  slight- 
est justification  for  hostility  to  the  fearless 
study  of  the  Bible.  Nothing  true  can  be  de- 
stroyed by  criticism,  and  what  is  false  should 
]ye  shown  to  be  so. 

But  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  enlist  in  the 
ranks  of  the  biblical  combatants  and  to  engage 
the  reader  in  what  might  prove  a  fruitless  con- 
107 


I08  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

troversy.  A  calm  consideration  of  the  rela- 
tions between  religion  and  the  Bible  will  show 
that  there  are  many  things  respecting  the  Bible 
which  may  be  regarded  as  facts,  even  if  there 
are  numerous  other  disputed  propositions.  The 
feeling  that  the  whole  subject  is  enshrouded  in 
mystery,  that  criticism  has  imperiled  every- 
thing, that  the  average  man  cannot  know 
what  to  believe,  although  perhaps  a  natural 
feeling  in  view  of  the  prevailing  agitation,  is, 
nevertheless,  unwarranted.  Many  preachers 
have  increased  the  doubts  and  fears  of  the 
people  by  misrepresenting  the  views  of  biblical 
scholars,  and  by  teaching  their  hearers  to  as- 
sume an  absurd  and  false  attitude  toward  the 
Bible.  For  instance,  one  frequently  hears  it 
said:  "If  you  cannot  believe  all  the  Bible 
teaches,  you  may  as  well  discard  it  altogether. 
*  False  in  one,  false  in  all.' "  The  critics  are 
depicted  with  knives  in  their  hands,  cutting  out 
one  passage  after  another,  until  nothing  but 
the  covers  of  the  Bible  are  left.  We  heard  a 
noted  evangelist  speak,  in  substance,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  tired  workman  takes  down  the 
old  family  Bible  in  the  evening  to  read  a  chap- 
ter to  his  wife  and  children.  Perhaps  the  pas- 
sage selected  is  one  of  the  Psalms.    The  higher 


RELIGION   AND  THE   BIBLE  IO9 

critic  enters  and  cries :  'Stop!  You  must  not 
read  that.  We  have  not  decided  who  wrote 
that  psahn.'  The  humble  beHever  turns  to  one 
of  the  prophetical  books,  and  begins  to  read : 
*  Stop ! '  shoiits  the  scholar  again,  '  You  must 
not  read  that ;  we  have  not  decided  when  that 
was  written.' "  It  is  difficult  for  those  w-ho 
know  the  facts  to  characterize  such  a  misrepre- 
sentation of  the  scholars  in  terms  that  will  not 
sound  harsh.  Yet  the  truth  is  that  such  state- 
ments could  be  inspired  only  by  ignorance  or 
insincerity.  No  biblical  scholar  forbids  or  dis- 
courages the  reading  of  any  part  of  the  Bible. 
He  might  disagree  from  those  who  believe  in 
what  are  called  orthodox  or  traditional  views 
of  the  Bible  as  to  dates,  authorship,  and  the 
historical  or  religious  significance  of  portions 
of  Scripture ;  but  he  regards  every  part  of  the 
Bible  as  historically  important,  and  as  possess- 
ing significance  in  the  religious  life  of  man. 

To  pursue  this  interesting  subject  further 
would  lead  us  too  far  astray,  however ;  for  our 
aim  is  to  set  forth,  as  clearly  as  possible,  a  few 
plain  facts  respecting  religion  and  the  Bible, 
which  may  be  of  service  to  troubled  minds. 

The  Bible  is  not  religion ;  it  is  the  product 
of  religion ;    a  collection  of  books  written  in 


no  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

many  different  centuries,  in  various  stages  of 
civilization,  and  dealing  with  a  great  variety 
of  religious  experiences.  In  these  books  are  to 
be  found  history,  biography,  poems,  parables, 
proverbs,  dreams  and  visions,  and  prophecies. 
They  furnish  us  with  a  multitude  of  facts  con- 
cerning the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  deeds  of 
individuals,  families,  tribes,  and  nations. 
Taken  together,  these  books  may  be  compared 
to  a  photograph  showing  us  what  manner  of 
men  they  were  who  lived  in  ancient  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and 
Rome.  Cromwell  is  reported  to  have  said  to 
an  artist :  "  Paint  me  as  I  am,  warts  and  all." 
The  Bible  faithfully  portrays  the  Hebrews  and 
certain  other  peoples  just  as  they  were,  "warts 
and  all."  Good  and  evil^  kindness  and  cruelty, 
greatness  and  littleness,  failures  and  successes, 
truth  and  falsehood,  are  to  be  found  expressed 
and  described  in  the  Bible.  Each  century  had 
its  own  peculiar  views  of  God  and  duty,  its  own 
aspirations  and  achievements ;  and  these  are 
all,  more  or  less  adequately,  expressed  and 
embodied  in  these  books. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  the  doctrines 
held  by  men  in  different  ages  and  countries. 
The  religion  of  the   Bible   is  the   religion  of 


RELIGION   AND   THE   BIBLE  III 

people  who  once  lived  on  the  earth ;  battled 
with  temptation;  struggled  to  promote  their 
political  and  social  welfare;  migrated  from 
one  country  to  another ;  built  cities ;  organized 
governments;  passed  laws;  fought  battles; 
founded  synagogues  and  Christian  churches ; 
adopted  religious  forms  and  ceremonies;  con- 
ducted public  worship;  preached  about  every 
subject  that  interested  them,  before  kings  or 
the  multitude;  and,  in  short,  lived  their  lives 
and  struggled  for  the  truth  just  exactly  as 
other  peoples  have  done  before  and  since  that 
time.  Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  we  find 
recorded  in  the  Bible  varying  conceptions  of 
religion,  deeds  of  cruelty,  noble  examples  of 
virtue,  and  different  ideas  of  God? 

With  this  conception  of  the  Bible  before 
us,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the 
Bible  may  be  studied  in  a  variety  of  ways  and 
for  different  purposes.  For  instance,  it  may  be 
studied  purely  for  historical  ends.  Informa- 
tion may  be  sought  concerning  the  ancient 
tribes  of  Israel  —  their  origin,  migrations,  and 
relations  with  other  nations.  The  growth  of 
the  national  life  may  be  traced  through  the  era 
of  the  Judges  to  the  establishment  of  the  mon- 
archy, from  the  division  of  the  kingdom  to  the 


112  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

fall  of  Samaria  and  of  Jerusalem,  during  the 
period  of  the  captivity  to  the  return  and  re- 
building of  the  fallen  cities. 

The  Bible  may  be  studied  biographically, 
taking  up  one  after  another  the  great  men  of 
Israel  —  Moses,  Solomon,  David,  Amos, 
Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Christ,  Paul,  Peter,  John. 

Or  we  may  study  the  book  for  sociological 
purposes.  In  that  case  interest  would  be  cen- 
tered upon  the  social  life  of  the  various  peoples 
of  Bible  times;  upon  the  origin  of  various  so- 
cial institutions,  social  customs,  and  social 
ideals. 

Philosophers  or  theologians  may  investigate 
the  biblical  literature  for  the  purpose  of  tracing 
the  ideas  which  were  held  respecting  creation 
and  the  laws  of  nature.  The  ideas  of  God  and 
of  man's  moral  obligations  may  be  collected 
and  arranged  in  a  systematic  form. 

The  Bible  may  be  studied  in  its  legislative 
features  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  light  on 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws  of  the  Hebrews 
and  of  neighboring  nations.  The  results  would 
constitute  a  part  of  the  history  of  human  laws. 

The  literary  expert  might  study  the  epics, 
lyrics,  essays,  biographies,  stories,  and  his- 
tories of  the  Bible  in  the  same  spirit  in  which 


RELIGION   AND  THE   BIBLE  I  I3 

he  Studies  the  Hterature  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
or  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

But  these  historical,  philosophical,  legal, 
theological,  or  literary  uses  of  the  Bible,  while 
they  serve  the  religious  life  more  or  less  directly 
through  a  better  understanding  of  the  Bible,  do 
not  constitute  the  most  important  use  of  the 
Bible.  Knowledge  of  the  history  or  theology 
in  the  biblical  literature  is  one  thing,  but  the 
religious  use  of  the  facts  and  teachings  of  the 
Bible  is  a  vastly  different  thing.  One  might 
study  the  Bible  in  all  the  ways  we  have  men- 
tioned, and  yet  refuse  to  profit  by  the  teachings 
of  the  books.  The  Bible,  in  short,  is  not 
primarily  addressed  to  the  head,  but  to  the 
heart  and  will  of  man.  It  is  not  merely  as 
history  or  biography  that  the  Bible  is  useful. 
Its  chief  value  consists  in  its  power  to  lead  us 
to  forsake  our  sins,  to  love  mercy,  to  deal 
justly,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  our  God.  One 
might  be  thoroughly  informed  on  the  his- 
torical, theological,  or  literary  elements  of  the 
Bible,  and  remain  indifferent  to  the  God  re- 
vealed in  the  Bible,  or  even  be  an  open  enemy 
of  Christianity.  We  never  get  the  most  out  of 
the  Bible,  then,  until  we  use  it  as  a  book 
"profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  cor- 


114  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

rection,  for  instruction  in  righteousness;  that 
the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly 
furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

The  Bible  is  a  providential  gift  of  God  to 
man;  and,  like  all  the  other  gifts  of  God,  it 
may  be  neglected  or  abused,  and  so  fail  to 
render  the  service  to  man  of  which  it  is  capable. 
There  is  nothing  magical  or  mysterious  about 
its  influence  over  human  life.  It  possesses  no 
power  for  good  apart  from  the  intelligent  use 
made  of  it.  We  may  take  a  false  attitude 
toward  it.  The  simple  faith  that  it  is  God's 
book,  without  any  understanding  of  what  the 
book  teaches,  is  of  little  account.  Its  value  to 
the  soul  wholly  depends  upon  the  amount  of  its 
truth  which  we  appropriate  and  by  which  we 
live. 

We  are  nowhere  taught  in  the  Bible  that 
salvation  depends  upon  believing  in  the  infalli- 
bility of  the  Bible,  or  that  we  shall  be  punished 
if  we  do  not  believe  this  dogma.  The  real  need 
is  not  more  faith  in  doctrines  about  the  Bible, 
but  more  faith  in  the  essential  teachings  of  the 
Bible  itself;  instead  of  treating  the  Bible  as  a 
fetish,  a  sort  of  a  charm,  we  need  to  under- 
stand its  contents  and  practice  its  teachings. 

The  religious  life  requires  nourishment  to 


RELIGION   AND  THE   BIBLE  II5 

insure  growth.  Spiritual  development  should 
be  the  aim  of  everyone.  It  is  sad  to  reflect 
how  many  people  seem  to  think  that  because 
they  have  professed  a  faith  in  God  and  joined 
the  church  they  are  safe  —  sure  of  an  entrance 
into  heaven  when  they  die.  This  narrow  view 
of  the  religious  life  is  widely  held;  and  conse- 
quently the  soul  is  deprived  of  that  culture 
which  is  the  chief  end  of  our  existence.  We 
were  never  meant  to  stand  still  but  to  add 
virtue  to  virtue,  to  grow  "  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ."  From  the  Chris- 
tian point  of  view,  salvation  means  Christlike- 
ness.  The  more  one  becomes  like  Christ,  the 
more  saved  one  becomes.  Being  a  Christian 
is  like  going  to  school  and  learning  something 
every  day,  acquiring  the  benefits  of  develop- 
ment, increasing  our  capacity  for  usefulness 
and  happiness.  The  idea  that  nothing  more 
can  be  done  for  the  religious  life  after  we  have 
made  our  peace  with  God  is  based  upon  a 
totally  erroneous  conception  of  the  nature  of 
the  Christian  life.  It  is  because  so  many  live 
according  to  this  wrong  theory  that  there  are 
so  many  feeble  Christians.  Their  lives  indicate 
a  lack  of  spiritual  nourishment ;  they  are  weak 
and  inefficient;  they  want  vitality,  power, 
breadth  —  in  a  word.  life. 


Il6  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting 
the  soul ;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure, 
making  wise  the  simple;  the  statutes  of  the 
Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart ;  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the 
eyes;  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enduring 
forever;  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true 
and  righteous  altogether." 

These  laws,  testimonies,  statutes,  command- 
ments, and  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible  with  a  simplicity  and  clear- 
ness unparalleled  in  nature  or  in  the  other 
sacred  books  of  the  world.  It  is  our  privilege 
to  seek  them  out  and  to  obey  them. 

"  But,"  it  is  asked.  "  where  is  there  room 
for  revelation  according  to  this  theory?  Is  not 
the  Bible  the  Word  of  God?"  The  Bible  is 
not  revelation,  is  not  the  Word  of  God,  in  the 
sense  that  every  view  of  the  Divine  Being  and 
every  doctrine  of  duty  in  the  Bible  is  the  view 
and  doctrine  of  God  himself. 

Again,  recall  the  idea  of  religion  as  the 
life  of  God  seeking  expression  in  the  mind  of 
man,  or,  conversely,  the  soul  of  man  struggling 
for  a  larger  recognition  of  the  life  and  truths 
of  God.  God  seeking  man  and  man  seeking 
God  —  these  are  the  two  sides  of  religion.  The 


RELIGION   AND  THE   BIBLE  II7 

Bible  records  a  part  of  this  universal  process. 
Its  chief  claim  upon  our  attention  is  not  that 
God  has  expressed  himself,  or  man  sought 
God,  nowhere  but  in  the  period  covered  by  the 
biblical  literature.  Other  peoples  had  their 
religious  experiences ;  God  spoke  also  in  them ; 
and  the  histor)^  of  this  search  for  God  and  this 
divine  self-revelation  is  exceedingly  helpful  to 
us.    We  know  far  too  little  about  it. 

But  there  is  a  uniqueness,  an  unparalleled 
simplicity,  breadth,  and  beauty,  in  the  revela- 
tion of  God  contained  in  the  Bible.  It  will  not 
be  denied  that  nations  as  well  as  individuals 
differ  in  their  native  endowments,  in  their  ex- 
periences and  achievements,  and  in  their  con- 
tributions to  civilization.  The  fact  that  God 
is  in  all  men  does  not  mean  that  all  men  are 
equally  conscious  of  the  divine  within  them. 
There  are  countless  stages  of  religious  develop- 
ment. To  state  the  matter  in  one  way,  God 
has  revealed  truth  to  some  which  he  has  with- 
held from  others.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  some 
have  reached  stages  of  consciousness  of  God, 
have  discovered  truths,  and  enjoyed  experi- 
ences far  beyond  the  attainments  of  others. 
The  same  is  true  in  politics,  art,  industry,  or 
education.     The  reason  why  the  Bible  is  with- 


Il8  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

out  an  equal  as  a  guide  to  man  in  religion  is 
that  truth  was  revealed  to  the  Hebrews,  and 
especially  in  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  unre- 
vealed  to,  or  undiscovered  by,  any  other  people 
in  history.  This  does  not  mean  that  other 
nations  did  not  possess  any  of  this  truth,  nor 
display  in  their  lives  any  of  the  virtues  which 
distinguished  Bible  characters.  But,  taken  as 
a  whole,  the  history  contained  in  the  Bible  is 
unequaled  in  the  lessons  and  inspirations  it 
furnishes  the  human  race.  No  other  nation 
had  such  a  genius  for  religion.  No  other 
nation  has  left  us  a  record  which,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  so  clearly  shows  us  the 
hand  of  God  in  history  and  enables  us  to  trace 
the  development  of  the  spiritual  life  of  a  people 
under  divine  guidance.  "  The  Book  is, 
throughout,  a  revelation  intended  to  bring  light 
out  of  darkness,  to  make  crooked  ways 
straight,  and,  across  hills  and  valleys,  to  make 
highways  for  the  weakest  to  pass  along."  It 
is  the  greatness  of  the  history  itself  which  the 
Bible  records  that  gives  the  Bible  its  value. 
God  nowhere  else  has  spoken  to  man  in  such 
comprehensible,  familiar  language. 

It  is,  then,  as  a  Book  of  life,  capable  of 
arousing  the  soul  to  a  sense  of  its  needs  and  of 


RELIGION    AND   THE   BIBLE  I  IQ 

pointing  the  way  to  life,  that  the  Bible  is  un- 
excelled as  a  religious  guide. 

But  how  is  one  to  discriminate  between  the 
good  and  the  bad  characters  described  in  the 
Bible,  and  how  is  one  to  know  which  of  the 
many  views  of  God  and  of  human  obligation 
are  true  ?  So  many  ideas  about  the  Bible  have 
had  to  be  given  up  that  one  never  knows  what 
to  believe  about  it.  These  are  questions  that 
trouble  many  minds. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  much  that  has  been 
discarded  is  really  the  invention  of  men.  Views 
have  been  held  which  have  been  supposed  to  be 
contained  in  the  Bible,  but  which  are  not  to  be 
found  there.  We  must  distinguish  between 
what  the  Bible  says  for  itself  and  what  men 
say  about  it.  Great  progress  has  been  made 
toward  a  clearer  and  truer  understanding  of 
the  Bible  by  simply  giving  up  ideas  about  the 
book  which  we  have  inherited,  but  which  a 
fearless  and  honest  inquiry  cannot  find  in  the 
Bible  itself. 

When  this  is  accomplished,  there  will  still 
remain  the  necessity  for  discrimination  be- 
tween the  true  and  the  false,  the  good  and  the 
bad,  in  the  Bible.  There  are,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  great  variety  of  views  in  the  Bible,  and  all 


I20  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

sorts  of  men  and  women.  To  distinguish  the 
difference  between  these  ideas  and  characters  is 
not  so  difficult  as  it  theoretically  appears.  Of 
course,  it  requires  study  and  intelligence  to 
become  an  expert  Bible  student.  Is  this 
strange?  Can  one  master  any  great  subject 
without  study?  But  experience  demonstrates 
that  people  do  not  make  such  very  serious 
blunders,  after  all.  Nobody  thinks  that  Jonah 
was  as  fine  a  character  as  Amos  or  Isaiah,  or 
that  Samson  was  as  wise  as  Solomon,  or  that 
Saul  was  as  fine  a  specimen  of  manhood  as 
David.  Even  the  untrained  reader  notes  differ- 
ences between  Peter  and  Paul.  Everybody 
concedes  that  Christ  excels  all  the  biblical  char- 
acters in  wisdom  and  goodness.  We  do  make 
distinctions,  and  we  do  judge  the  biblical  men 
and  women  by  certain  standards.  They  are  not 
all  equally  attractive  to  us.  Everyone  has 
favorite  passages  of  Scripture.  No  one  enjoys 
a  genealogical  chapter  as  he  does  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  We  all  see  the  ethical  dififer- 
ences  between  the  laws  of  Moses  and  the  pre- 
cepts of  Christ.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  great 
mass  of  people  who  read  the  Bible  find  in  it 
comfort,  instruction,  and  inspiration,  without 
settling  various  questions  in  historical  criticism 
or  in  biblical  theology. 


RELIGION    AND   THE    BIBLE  121 

There  is  no  infallible  rule,  then,  by  which 
one  can  solve  all  the  questions  arising  from  the 
Bible.  The  important  thing  to  remember  is 
that  it  can  help  us  in  spite  of  difficulties,  just 
as  we  enjoy  sunshine  and  utilize  heat  without 
a  knowledge  of  science.  The  more  we  know 
about  the  Bible  the  better.  Criticism  and  re- 
search help  to  render  its  teachings  clearer.  But 
the  real  difficulty  with  most  of  us  is  not  that  we 
cannot  find  anything  in  the  Bible  to  meet  our 
moral  needs.  The  difficulty  is  that  we  do  not 
practice  those  things  that  are  clearly  taught ; 
that  we  pass  by  the  plain  commands  of  Christ 
in  search  of  difficulties,  and  get  entangled  in 
questions  that  do  not  pertain  to  our  practical 
life.  If  we  will,  we  can  lay  hold  on  these 
simple  verities  and  find  peace. 

The  seeker  after  God  and  personal  right- 
eousness finds  in  the  Bible  a  record  of  the 
thoughts,  feelings,  and  conduct  of  men  who 
grappled  w^ith  essentially  the  same  problems  as 
those  which  confront  all  men  today.  He  sees 
the  inner  life  of  religious  men  laid  bare.  He 
marks  the  effects  of  love  and  hate,  righteous 
zeal  and  ignoble  ambition,  true  faith  and 
cowardly  unbelief.  He  finds  encouragement 
and  inspiration  in  notable  examples  of  fidelity 


122  PRIMARY  FACTS  IN  RELIGIOUS  THOUGHT 

to  duty,  and  is  warned  by  the  miserable  failures 
of  those  who  forsook  God  to  pursue  their  own 
foolish  ends.  He  learns  the  secret  of  true  peace 
and  moral  strength.  His  weary  soul  finds  rest 
in  the  contemplation  of  truths  that  reveal  the 
glory  of  God  in  human  experience.  When  the 
tragic  story  nears  its  end,  "  in  the  fulness  of 
time,"  there  is  disclosed  the  incomparable  per- 
son of  Jesus  Christ,  who  unites  in  himself  the 
loftiest  precepts  and  holiest  living.  "  beautiful 
as  the  light,  sublime  as  heaven,  and  as  true  as 
God."  It  is  the  Christ  who  opens  our  eyes  to 
eternal  truths  and  existing  realities,  and  as  we 
become  acquainted  with  him,  by  the  aid  of  the 
gospel  narratives,  a  new  hope  is  born  in  the 
soul,  a  longing  to  realize  the  beautiful  ideal 
portrayed  in  the  pages  of  the  entrancing  story. 


Date  Due 

•  .  ■ 

^A«bbLi 

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